


Ten Seconds

by Masterpwn



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bad Wolf, Beaches, Doctor Who (1963) Episodes, Florida, Gen, Light Angst, Light Swearing, Mystery, Original Character(s), Telepathy, United States
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-18
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-02-25 20:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2634530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterpwn/pseuds/Masterpwn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor receives a distress call on the psychic paper from a highly telepathic creature residing in the United States and does not find anything like he suspected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm Doctor John Smith

**Author's Note:**

> The graphic depictions of violence is tagged because there are a few violent scenes actually and a few scenes with post-violent actions described in varying degrees of detail. I know some people are sensitive to that kind of thing, but it's necessary for the plot (although mostly skippable, I will put warning at the beginning of each chapter containing these). Just want to make sure it's known, if it comes and most people do not think it's really that graphic, I could remove the tag. It depends. (My definition of graphic is not broad and more liberal. To me, I don't find the scenes graphic, but some people might.)

" _Ssssssss._ "

The nurse enters the sky blue padded room to find her curled in the corner, facing the wall, hissing. "Now, now, dear. It's time for your medicine!" she chirps. The girl responds with another hiss. The nurse sighs. "Timothy, she's hissing again! I'm going to need some help in here!" A man enters the room, looking at the girl curled up in her straight jacket.

There's something wrong. She doesn't register as he moves over and forcibly pulls her away from the wall. She doesn't pay attention as he wraps one arm around her as the other holds her head, she doesn't feel the nurse pry open her mouth and place an- Ack! A bitter pill on her tongue snaps her back to attention. Before she can spit it out, the woman clamps her hand over her mouth, forcing her to swallow. She's allowed a small paper cup of water, which she washes the pill down with before the nurses leave the room, taking the cup with them.

She feels a probing presence in her mind and throws up her mental shields. "Ssssss." _They've found her again._ Why do they keep following her? What do they need? What do they want? They can't have anything! No, no. Not her secrets. They're hers. The medicine is making her dizzy. It's supposed to put her to sleep, but it never works. It's them. They're trying to weaken her defense, to read her mind. _Nice try, but it will never work._ She can metabolise it very quickly, at least, she thinks she can... or maybe not.

She wakes up with a strangled cry, _why did she fall asleep?_ No! They're past her defenses! She quickly shoves them out of her mind, but does so too forcefully, too desperately, and a shockwave blasts outward from her mind. The single dim bulb set in the ceiling bursts, and the camera in the corner fizzes out.

Unbeknownst to her, the effects of the shockwave become less physical as they ripple away. Her mental cry for help reaches into the millions of miles away, but they're only really needed approximately 4,386 miles from the Bad Wolf Asylum of Florida. 

——————————————————————

"Well, Donna Noble! Where to next?" says the man in the brown pinstripe suit, who currently is stalking around the console, idly flipping switches.

"I don't know, you pick someplace, Spaceman."

He pauses his work for a moment. "How about Claxis IV? The inhabitants there really know how to throw a party."

Donna smiles enthusiastically. "Fine by me!"

The Doctor beams back and throws a lever down, setting the whole TARDIS shaking as it dematerialises.

Suddenly, the cloister bell sounds and the TARDIS flings itself out of the vortex, landing hard. Both the Doctor and Donna tumble to the grating as the cloister bell stops.

The Doctor splutters out an indignant "What?"

"Oi! What've you done now?" Donna remarks as she gets up off the floor.

He hops up like a spring and pulls the monitor towards him. "I didn't do anything!"

She crosses her arms. "Then where are we?"

He furrows his brows. "Florida."

Donna considers this a moment, then smiles. "That's not all bad, at least we'll get some beaches!"

He shakes his head. "Not in central Florida."

Her smile fades. "Well isn't that wizard."

"Orlando it seems," he looks up from the monitor and sees her face. "Don't worry, I'll bring you to a beautiful Florida beach later, as soon as we figure out why the TARDIS brought us here."

"As long as we don't land on planet of the slugs instead," she mumbles.

"Donna Noble, I'll have you know my driving is impeccable!"

She just shakes her head and steps outside. The Doctor shrugs and follows swiftly after.

"Bad Wolf Asylum of Florida."

"What?"

"Right there," she points and the he follows it with his gaze.

"Oh yeah."

He feels a buzz in his pocket and reaches in to investigate. Donna watches as he buries his arm up to his elbow to find what he's looking for. "Ha," he exclaims as he withdrawals his psychic paper.

"Get me out of here," he reads.

"What does it say?" she asks, a bit disbelieving.

He holds out the paper for her to inspect.

 _Get me out of here!_ in scraggly uneven writing prints itself across the paper over and over again.

"Huh," she shrugs. "An asylum right there, they're probably all saying that."

"Yeah, but Donna," he says as he closes the case, "Not everyone in there could send a message to the psychic paper." He waves it around a bit before returning it to his pocket. "I'm going to find out who managed it, but it's probably just a poor alien they've caught without realising." With that, he begins walking towards the building.

——————————————————————

"Doctor John Smith, and this is my assistant, Donna Noble," he says to the man, handing him his _credentials_. The man looking to hire them, a Dr. Don Bryant, inspects it.

"Well," he looks up. "You are certainly qualified for this job." He hands it back. "And your assistant?"

The Doctor smiles disarmingly. "My highest recommendations as a nurse."

"We are a bit short staffed, may I see your papers miss Noble?"

The Doctor shifts a bit in his seat and slips the psychic paper into her lap, casually hidden behind the desk so Dr. Bryant wouldn't see. Picking it up, Donna hands it over. She leans back in her seat and smiles.

"Hmmm. A two-year degree, clean background, and solid recommendation," he returns the paper to her. "Now, why do you wish to work here?"

Never breaking his smile, "I just think the patients are a little lost," the Doctor replies.

"We'd like to help find them," Donna finishes.

——————————————————————

"I hate these scrubs," Donna complains as she meets the Doctor in the mess hall.

He grins. "The outfits aren't all bad!"

"You can say," she huffs. "You still get to wear your ridiculous suit, don't you ever change?"

Ignoring her complaint, he looks down at his own attire. "Got to say, I like the coat," smoothing at his white lab coat as he takes a tray. "Too bad Janis Joplan didn't give it to me."

They're silent for a while as they get their food and sit.

"So you think there's an alien here?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I think-" Suddenly, he leans forward, one hand on the table, one on his forehead and grits his teeth in pain.

"Doctor?" Donna puts a hand on his shoulder and looks around, none of the other nurses or any of the patients notice his actions. "Doctor, what's wrong?"

He slowly raises his head and his hand slides down his face slowly, coming to rest on the table. "I felt... I felt it."

"Felt what?"

"Well, more like whatever it is just kicked my mind very rudely," he clarifies, rubbing his temples.

"You mean that thing that sent the message to the psychic paper?" 

"Yeah, that thing," he looks around. "It's not here, but it's definitely in the building, it's just-" He shakes his head in disbelief. "The force of it! Sure, I wasn't prepared for it, but that was... that was the telepathic equivalent to getting hit in the head with a cricket bat."

She makes a face. "Was it attacking you?"

He shakes his head. "No, rather, I think it was defensive."

"Why'd you think that?"

"I think it's mind was under attack, and it recoiled in general. There was no direction to it and it was frantic."

"Or it could be bonkers."

He gives her an indecipherable look and abruptly rises. "I'm going to go to my newly assigned office and search through some patient records."

"See you around, Spaceman."

——————————————————————

_Whiirrr!_

Irritably, the Doctor goes through more records, but can't make sense of them. The system they have is outdated and impossibly organised. Rather, it's unorganised, but passes off as being such because there are charts. He sighs. He'd have to go through the paper files. He's just about to get up when an idea hits. If there's aliens, there might be some out of the ordinary goings-on.

"Let me just-" _Whiirrr!_ "There we go!"

The security records are much more organised, so he looks through recent incident reports. First one on the list is labeled "Electronics and Lighting Failure" and he selects it, it's from yesterday.

_Report Filed Thursday 22:45 Cell S10_  
 _21:00 Two nurses administer nightly medication to patient 11908_  
 _21:06 Patient 11908 falls asleep_  
 _21:41 Patient 11908 wakes up_  
 _21:42 Patient 11908 panics, the cell's single bulb shatters_  
 _21:43 Camera failure_  
 _21:44 Nurses enter cell to find patient 11908 shaking in corner_  
 _21:45 Camera returns to normal without maintenance_  
 _21:50 Sedative is administered to patient 11908_  
 _22:00 All clear_  
 _End Report_

The Doctor returns to patient records to find 11908.

_Patient Number does not exist._

The Doctor furrows his brows. "This is interesting," he tells the empty office.

——————————————————————

The next day at breakfast, the Doctor finds his way to Donna's table.

"Donna, I found something interesting," he says as he sits with his tray.

"Good morning to you, too," she replies sarcastically.

"What? Oh, yeah, 'morning," he takes out a piece of paper and lays it on the table. "See this security incident report? It's pretty interesting."

Donna takes the paper and looks it over.

"I was wondering if you could go check it out for me."

Donna shoves some egg in her mouth and chews, then looks up. "Yeah, I work in that hall, halls S and T," she sets the paper down and the Doctor scoops it up. "I can snoop around there," she continues, "S10, yeah?"

"S10."

They tuck into their breakfasts, Donna talking about the asylum and the nurses she's met.

"-and then there's this one guy," she says between sips of coffee, "Who never says a word apparently, and he goes up to me and says, get this, he says, 'Flarx'," she puts her coffee cup down. "What's he talkin' about? Anyway, this coffee's actually good, but I'd love a cuppa."

"Flarx?"

She nods. "Flarx."

The Doctor runs it through all the alien knowledge he can think of.

She cocks her head ever so slightly. "You've got your thinking face on."

He scowls. "Flarx is a flower from the planet Lit, it's name literally means 'flee from battle', it's used as a sign of surrender, and is planted in places that..."

"Planted in what places?" she inquires.

"Planted in places to warn others off of hunting grounds," he jumps up. "Donna, I think we've got our alien!"

"Yeah, but why's he telling me to get off his hunting ground? A silly alien, that one."

He sits back down. "Wait. Maybe he's not what sent the message, weeell, I wouldn't think he could've anyways. The species is telepathic, but not very advanced. Whatever he's hunting, _that's_ what sent the message."

"So he's really hunting something?"

The Doctor nods. "And if he is on a hunt, he's not alone."

Her eyes widen. "That sound onimous."

"A bit, yeah," he rises again. "We've got to get to what they're hunting before they do."

——————————————————————

Donna ambles down the hall along side a man pushing a cart with little cups of medicines for every patient in the hall. She goes down the hall, giving pills to them. She can't help but feel sorry for them. Most are so doped up, they're barely aware of anything going on.

Then they get to S10, and before she can open the door, Timothy lays a hand softly on her arm. "Be careful in there, no matter what we give that girl, she's still jumpy as a flea and she lashes out violently. Need any help, call me right away." He hands her the little pill cup and some water, then unlocks and opens the door.

Inside, she finds a young girl, maybe about 17, huddled in the corner. There's a straight jacket on the floor not far from her. "Gotten out have you?" She doesn't respond, so Donna moves closer. "Tell you what, you take this without a fuss, and I won't have them put the jacket back on you." The girl looks up, eyes piercing Donna, sending coldness shooting down her spine.

Ignoring it, she gets down on her knees and holds out her closed fist with the tablets in them. "My name's Donna."

When she finally speaks, her voice is rusty from disuse. "Donna Noble."

She's taken aback by this. "How'd you know that?"

"You said it."

Donna looks at her, slightly confused. "I only said my first name."

"You said it," she says again and holds out an open palm.

She gives her the medicine and she swallows it, holding out her hand for the water. Donna hands her the cup and she downs it quick then hands the empty cup back.

Donna makes a quick decision. "I'm here to help you."

"Help how?"

"Is there something after you?"

The girl stares at her for a bit, then grins. "Yes."

"I have a friend, he's called the Doctor, we've come to get you out, you sent us a message."

Her grin fades. "Get me out of here."

"That what my friend and I are gonna do, we're gonna-"

"You alright in there?" Timothy calls.

"Yeah," She shouts out. Donna rises and lowers her voice. "I'll come back."

The girl returns to her original position against the wall and Donna leaves the cell.

——————————————————————

After finishing her rounds, Donna heads back to "Dr. John Smith's" office. She barges in without even knocking to find him staring at something on the monitor on his desk.

"Doctor, I went to S10," she says.

He looks up at her. "What did you find?"

"The girl there's pretty odd," she begins, flopping down into one of the chairs facing the desk. "I gave her the tablets they had for her, and they've got the dose pretty high, but they don't seem to do anything to her," she continues, "Not that that's all bad or anything."

"Anything else about her?"

"Yeah, here's the oddest thing though, when I went in, I told her that my name was Donna," her hands were gesturing to nothing in particular. "And she looks right at me and says 'Donna Noble', but I haven't told anyone else my last name since I've been here."

The Doctor leans back in his chair.

"Well, I also told her we were gonna help since we got her message, and she said 'get me out of here', like the message on the paper."

He frowns. "She's definitely the one who sent it."

"Yeah, but I swear she was staring straight into my mind." Donna shivered at the memory of it.

"Anything else about her? She didn't have any strange markings or anything?"

She shakes her head. "Nope, looked just like a normal girl."

He clasps his hands together. "Right! We'll see about getting her out of here soon." Rubbing his hands, he turns back to the computer and began typing.

"Why don't we just fly the TARDIS in there and get her?"

He looks back at her. "Well, for starters, that might scare her, I mean, she is in an asylum, we don't know how mentally stable she is, second, just waltzing in and out with the TARDIS might alert the Litian hunters," he gives a sly smile. "Don't worry, Donna, we'll get her out of here safe and sound!"

——————————————————————

 _Outoutoutoutoutoutoutout!_ They were finally moving her out of isolation. She's got to get out of the building, once they find her, it will be too late. They allowed her to bathe and then locked her in her room until dinner. She spent the whole time staring at the security camera in the corner of the ceiling. Two hours later, it was time to eat. Time to escape.

——————————————————————

"There she is Doctor, the girl I told you about," Donna not-so-discreetly gestures to her with her head.

She was sitting at a table packed with people, but not talking to anyone. Brown/Blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, very slight.

The Doctor discreetly glanced over out of the corner of his eyes. "Looks human." He brings the sonic out of his pocket and points it towards her. _Whirr_! He looks at it. "The best I can scan from here says she's human."

Donna swatts at his arm. "Over there, the alien guy!"

Standing just beyond the table, was a group of three men, easily six feet each, eyes scanning over the crowd, talking quietly to each other.

"You think maybe-" she stops talking as they begin moving. One positions himself at the end of her table, and two continue moving towards her, but before anyone can act, she picks up part of her previously untouched dinner and throws it across the room. This induces a round of yelling, during which she picks up her burger and throws the meat, cheese slice, and each bun in rapid succession. Before she's even finished with that, an all out food fight begins, catching the two closest hunters in the crossfire.

The Doctor rises from his seat only to duck as a patty is thrown at his face. He rises again to find... Nothing, she's disappeared.

"Donna! We've got to find her!"

——————————————————————

They know she's here. Uh oh. One of them stands at the head of the table. Two draw near. She can hear them talking to each other above the roar in her head. Her hiding tactic has failed, but she has a plan B. She grabs her carton of juice, opens it, and throws it across the hall. _Sorry!_ It lands on a group of people, splashing apple juice everywhere. Next, she picks up her burger, and begins throwing it too.

There's a lot of yelling, nurses are rising from their seats.

_The top bun goes flying down the table and hits somebody's head._

The target raises a handful of beans.

_A slice of cheese sticks to the face of one of the approaching nurses._

The beans pelt everyone around her, and the food fight begins.

_A meat patty pelts the hunter stationed at the head of the table._

There's a maelstrom of food arcing across the cafeteria.

_The bottom bun sails off to nowhere in particular._

A hand grips her shoulder, and she turns around and decks the person grabbing her before she even sees who it is. Next thing she knows she's hiding under the table and the farthest corner of the room, next to the fire alarm.

_"Donna! We've got to find her!"_

_Hmm._ If she rises from her hiding place, she'll be spotted immediately. She can sense the hunter's confusion, they have no idea where she is. She spots the fire alarm trigger on the wall... If she can just concentrate.

——————————————————————

The Doctor grabs Donna's hand and pulls her towards the door when suddenly the sprinklers over their heads begin drenching the entire mess hall. The alarm blares and he looks over to the trigger on the wall. It's untouched, so his eyes scan the room looking for another. Nope, only one in the room. This is part of the distraction she caused, which, blimey, is an effective one, but she's nowhere, and it's unbroken.

There's still a lot of yelling and flying food, when the doors burst open and new orderlies pour into the room to help stop the full on riot, leaving them unlocked and wide open. A small shape darts out from under the nearest table and makes a beeline for them.

"Donna, there! C'mon!"

The hunters reach the doors before they do and they all take off in pursuit of the girl.


	2. With Luck and the Right View

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Donna take on a new person in the TARDIS, but is she anything like the way she seems? Or is there something stranger going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archive warnings were previously labeled incorrectly, but are now correct. Sorry about any confusion.

_Previously_

_There's still a lot of yelling and flying food, when the doors burst open and new orderlies pour into the room to help stop the full on riot, leaving them unlocked and wide open. A small shape darts out from under the nearest table and makes a beeline for them._

_"Donna, there! C'mon!"_

_The hunters reach the doors before they do and they all take off in pursuit of the girl._

The Doctor and Donna kept two steps behind the hunters and the girl was nowhere to be seen. They were only keeping up with her because they were following the ones with the keener tracking senses.

"Doctor, we're losing them."

He stops. "Donna, wait here."

"Oh no, that's not happening spaceman!"

"No time, wait here!" He takes off without another word.

He moves faster without Donna there since she runs a bit slower than he does. He also doesn't want her getting hurt, the Litians are dangerous to both their quarry and everything in between. Why they want the girl so badly is beyond him anyways. He finally catches up with the girl's pursuers to find that they have cornered her in the hall. With no keycard to unlock the door, she can't go further.

"Hey!"

One hunter turns while the others ignore him. Drawing his weapon, the Litian blocks him from getting any closer, but doesn't advance. The Doctor whips out his screwdriver and points it at the electronic lock. Activating, the door unlocks and the girl pushes it open, taking off again with two in hot pursuit.

The third, however, begins to stalk forward. "The girl is ours, begone."

"I won't let you hurt her!" he yells in fury.

He hisses and raises his weapon. "You have interfered too much, piddily human."

Suddenly, the screeches of his comrades echo through the halls and he turns to look down the hall, but cannot see them. Before he can move away, the Doctor steps forward and applies pressure to delicate points on its neck, and it passes out cold. When he looks up, she's standing there, though he doesn't remember her coming down the hall again.

"How'd you-" she's cut off by a fit of coughing. Clearing her throat a couple more times for good measure, she speaks again. "How'd you do that?"

"Venusian Karate."

She cocks her head. "Can you teach me?"

He chuckles. "Maybe someday."

She shrugs in response. "Good enough."

Just then, Donna comes running up, panting. "Whole lotta runnin'," she gets out between gasps.

The girl looks at her. "Donna Noble," she turns back to him. "The Doctor," She places a closed fist on her sternum in a gesture of referring to herself. "Amanda," She lets her arm dangle by her side again. "Been a pleasure, bye," she says. And immediately begins walking away.

"Now wait a minute, you can't just go swannin' off!" the Doctor protests.

She gives a backwards wave, wiggling her fingers. "Sure I can, this is me, swanning off, see ya!"

Donna pipes up. "I said I was gonna help you, and if you leave now, I won't be able to help you." Amanda stops walking and Donna continues, "What if they come back? You might need help then, but we won't be there to help you."

She offers a resigned sigh. "Fine then," she says, and turns to face them. "But any funny business, and I'm gone."

Donna smiles. "No funny business, I promise."

——————————————————————

The walk back to the TARDIS was uneventful, but filled with conversation.

"So, I don't want to pry, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to," Donna begins, "But how did you wind up in there?"

Amanda doesn't hesitate a second before answering. "I hear people talking, but they don't believe me."

"How can they not believe you if they just said something?" Donna responds confusedly.

"I ask them the same thing, but they don't want to admit anything, 'cos they think that they might be called crazy too."

Now she is really confused. "I don't understand."

Amanda stops walking and they stop too.

After a pause she says, "I hear them talk," and resumes walking, the Doctor and Donna following.

"I think she means she can hear people thinking, Donna," he says.

"Oh," is all she can reply. "Can you hear me think, too?"

"Yeah, that's how I know where we're going, 'cos you have it in your head, and you think it out loud."

Donna blushes.

She seems to detect her embarrassment. "Just don't think anything loudly that you don't want to say," she says without even turning to look at Donna's red face.

"How would I do that?"

The Doctor interrupts quickly. "She probably only hears what you have in the forefront of your mind."

Amanda nods. "Yeah, don't think it out loud."

Now it's the Doctor's turn for questions. "Any idea why they were after you?"

"They want the secrets," she replies cautiously.

"What kind of secrets?" he asks carefully.

"Dangerous ones. You could devastate planet Earth with secrets such as these," she remarks, then quotes. "'A text of fearsome power must not be shared with others.' Zeami, Japanese playwright."

Donna blinks. "Right."

"Many always burn the knowledge, it's a terrible shame. Like the Library at Alexandria. I can hear it from way long ago, I have to forget everything though, otherwise my head hurts." She slows her steps a bit. "I have a terrible memory, started doing pathetically in math during high school. Math was never my strong suit, and when I started forgetting a lot, it looked like the teacher was writing in some sort of Elvish to me or something."

Donna stifles a giggle at her Elvish comment.

"I suppose that last bit is funny," she says.

Her face turns red once again at her uncanny ability to detect her thoughts.

"Here we are!" exclaims the Doctor jovially.

"Can you hear it?" she stops and says abruptly, staring at the blue box before her.

"Hear what?" Donna asks.

She sways her body slowly back and forth. "The singing, can't you hear it?"

The Doctor smiles. "That's the TARDIS," he tells her.

"She has a lovely voice," she says, giggling.

The Doctor pulls out the key and opens the doors, leading everyone in, Amanda bringing up the rear.

Her mouth forms a little 'o' as she looks around the console room in awe. "It's dimensionally transcendental!"

The Doctor glares at her. "I prefer it when they say 'It's bigger on the inside.'"

The TARDIS hums a pleased greeting to all three of them and she giggles in delight, patting one of the coral struts as she passes it.

She continues examining the room, now having moved forward, running her hands softly and reverently over the console itself. "Seems a bit of a simple statement though." She shrugs. "It's easier to think it's another dimension anchored to a little box, but it's nothing like that really."

He huffs at her. "Sure."

"What's its function?" she asks.

"Weeell, it travels through all of time and space, free of charge."

Now she's bouncing around like a kid. "Where we going?" her accent and demenour making the statement a little odd sounding to Donna, enough so that she almost didn't catch what she was saying.

"Into the time vortex," he replies.

Her eyes merely widen in excitement, like she doesn't have words for it, before abruptly turning to Donna with a sour look on her face. "I'm not _adorable._ "

The Doctor just laughs as the TARDIS dematerialises with a wheeze and an amused hum.

——————————————————————

She jumps up and down. "Heyheyheyheyhey!" she's walking around the console, tapping every coral strut as she goes. "Doctor, can you can teach me Venus-something aikido?"

"You mean Venusian Karate."

"Yeah, that."

"I suppose." He shrugs. "Not now though."

Again she jumps around. "Heyeheyheyheyehey, can I explore the TARDIS?"

"Sure, go ahead," he says, sending a telepathic request to the TARDIS to keep her out of trouble. She responds with a noncommittal hum saying _I can't promise anything._

——————————————————————

Wandering down the hall, she peers into open doors as she passes by them. There's a pool, an observatory (how does that even work?), a garden (she'll have to come back to that), and wow, she can't skip this room.

As she passes through the door, a massive library stretches out before her. "Now that's just showing off," she breathes, looking up at the multiple storeys of endless shelves of books. She moves between the shelves, dragging her jaw after her, which she had dropped on the floor. Snapping her mouth shut, she delicately runs her fingers over the spines, before spotting a title she might like to read. _The Endless Wonders of the Known Universe._ Like something out of a fairy tale. Grabbing the book, she finds a chair, and begins to read at an unbelievable speed.

——————————————————————

Donna looks at the Doctor. "What'd think of her?"

"I think she's a bit impossible."

"Well, she's childish some, but not that bad."

"Not that," he says, "More like I don't think she's actually human. I need to find her and look her over in the infirmary."

"Let's go find her then."

He asks his TARDIS where she is and got _library_ in return. Mentally thanking the old girl, he takes Donna's elbow and gently pulls her in that direction.

——————————————————————

Walking into the library, they see her on an armchair by the happily crackling fireplace, nose in a book.

The Doctor addresses her. "Good choice, _The Endless Wonders of the Known Universe,_ one of my favourites." He plops down on armchair across from her, and Donna settles herself on the sofa, facing both chairs and the fireplace. "Just skimming through?" she asks, noticing how far she is into the book and how thick it is.

She offers a quick glance over the top of the book. "No, I've read all of it so far," returning her eyes to it, she flips a page.

"Fast reader then, yeah?" Donna inquires.

Amanda turns another page. "Yeah."

They watch her for a moment, turning a page every few seconds.

"What page are you on then?" she asks.

"478."

Barely a moment later, paper ruffles. "479."

Donna gets up and goes to peer over the top of the book, watching her eyes move down a page, not even side to side as they would if she were actually reading each line. Leaning forward just a bit more, she gets a good look at the pages. "The print's so small!"

"It's a big book for a big universe."

She returns to the sofa.

"Amanda," the Doctor says to get her attention, "Can I talk for a bit?"

They wait in silence as she continues reading. Finally she lowers the book, keeping a finger between the pages to hold her place. "Yeah?"

"Would you come to the infirmary for a while?"

She frowns. "I ain't sick."

"Never said you were, I just want to run a few scans, there may be things on the TARDIS or certain planets you could be allergic to," he smoothly lies. "Just want to make sure you'll be fine."

"Need a bookmark."

The Doctor produces a colourful strip of silk from his pocket and she accepts it, puts it in the book, places the book on an end table, and rises. "Okay, let's go."

——————————————————————

In the infirmary, the Doctor pats the table. "Hop up," he orders, and she obliges. "Right, now if you could just lay back and relax, wearing anything metal?"

"No."

"Righty-o," he says as he puts the scanner into position. "Hold still."

She closes her eyes as the machine starts up. Three beams of light, each a different color, sweep over her body, then it powers down. "All done, quick and easy!" He looks over the scans. "Don't see any immediate problems! I'll just go over this a bit more closely just to make sure."

She sits up. "I'm gonna go back to the library and finish reading."

"Have fun," Donna says enthusiastically, and she leaves.

She looks at him expectantly.

"Donna, do you mind if I look over these alone?"

She gives him one more skeptical look. "Sure, Spaceman, see you later," she says and leaves the room.

With Donna gone, the Doctor takes a seat in front of the machinery and begins to read the information.

——————————————————————

Amanda closes the book. Undoubtedly, her favourite wonder is the mysterious cliff face with undecipherable writing from the dawn of time. Maybe she'd ask the Doctor about it, mysterious and dawn of time sounds right up his alley. Returning the book to its proper place, she leaves the library.

Down the endless halls, twisting, turning. They might come back to find her. They might come back...

The second she comes to this realisation, she takes off in a sprint down the corridors to find the Doctor.

——————————————————————

Inside the infirmary, the Doctor is absorbed in his readings.

_Hyperactive nervous system equivalent to a Time Lord..._  
 _...Brain activity 1987% of a normal human..._  
 _...Arton radiation present in extreme levels..._  
 _...DNA affected by an unknown..._  
 _...Lungs capable of tolerating heavy gases such as O3..._  
 _...Metabolism 300% above normal..._  
 _...Lethal levels of neutron radiation prese-_

"Doctor!"

He swiftly turns the monitor away from view and stands to face her. "Yes?"

She bows her head and shuffles her feet a bit. "Can I stay? On the TARDIS I mean?"

"Oh, yes, of course! You can, er, stay for as long as you like."

"Whoo!" She runs forward and gives him a quick hug before pulling back. "Thanks!" She then turns on her heel and runs straight back out the room.

He turns back to the screen, wondering what his newest guest is really hiding. Secrets she had said. He'll have to find them out.

——————————————————————

Wandering through the halls, she comes across a spring green door. Smiling, she pushes it open to find a room with deep brown carpets, and a dark forest green and sea blue colour scheme. Odd, but she likes it. The bed looks comfy, and there's a dresser, desk, nightstand, bookshelf, and a random oversized bean bag chair. In other words, it's very ideal. There's a Lego Death Star set in a box, sitting on the desk, waiting to be constructed in her free time. She lovingly pats the doorframe. "Thank you girl," she whispers, and proceeds to get ready for bed.

~~~~

Screams surround her, unknown things whistle by her head in the dark. So dark, she can't see anything, nothing but a large pair of pale gold eyes, unswervingly locked on her. They come closer, massive claws scraping the ground as the creature moves. She wants to run but she's frozen in place. It huffs from its nostrils and hot air hits her face. As it opens its mouth to snap her in half, she wakes, shaking and cold. _IT. IS. COMING._ Screaming internally, she clamps her hands over her ears and lies awake the rest of the night.

—————————————————————

"'Morning, Doctor!" says Donna as she walks into the galley.

"Mmm."

Donna goes about making her breakfast as the Doctor studies some clear sheets of plastic-like paper, printed with charts and scribbles.

"What'd you doing?"

"Going over these scans again."

Donna sits down across from him with her breakfast. "Is there something wrong with them?"

He plops them back down onto the table. "Nothing is wrong with the scans, what's wrong is what was scanned."

Donna gasps. "Is she not human? She looks like one. Well, you do too, Martian, so I guess it doesn't mean much."

He shakes his head. "She is. Weeell, I say she is, but it's more like she was, now she's sort of not."

"Sort of not?"

"Human, but with altered DNA."

"Oh."

"I can't tell why, but her DNA's mutated, and here," he sifts through the papers and picks one out. "This is her average brain activity," he holds it out.

She takes it and looks it over, the TARDIS translating the alien language on it. "1987% of what?"

"Putting it simply, that's how active her brain is," he takes it back. "The average human uses 100% of their brain power daily, consciously and sub-consciously, every automatic and motor function," he continues, "The fact that her mind uses nearly 20 people's worth of brain power is incredible! Aaand entirely impossible."

"Is she alright?"

He shrugs. "That does seem to be the case, though honestly, I'm not even sure how she's alive."

Donna's face becomes increasingly worried. "Is she sick? Can we help?"

"Technically, yes, she's sick. In fact, she's completely irradiated with neutron radiation, absorbed it in lethal amounts, but her cells don't degenerate and she doesn't emit any radiation or display effects of it. As for the helping, I have no clue."

"What is neutron radiation?"

He sighs. "It's a byproduct of nuclear reactions, like in a nuclear power plant, or the aftermath of an atomic bomb. It penetrates deeply into tissue, and there's no possible way to purge all of it from her body."

"So we can't help her."

"No, I'm afraid not. We can only watch her to make sure she doesn't affect anyone else."

"Do you think the radiation is what altered her DNA?"

"No, I think it was something else."

"What else could've done it though?"

"That's something I intend to find out."

"Find out what?" Amanda says groggily as she enters the room. She's cleaned up nicely, but still looks tired.

Donna immediately thinks solely of her breakfast and nothing else.

"Find out exactly where you'd like to go today," he says without hesitating. "First day aboard the TARDIS, rise and shine, we've got a day of adventure ahead of us! You pick were we're going today!" He hops up, gathers all the papers, folds them, and sticks them in his pocket before the TARDIS can translate anything for her. "Eat up and I'll see you both in the console room later!" With that, he exits the room.

"He's a morning person then?"

Donna shrugs. "Mostly I think he doesn't sleep."

"Like, ever? Or like, you never catch him sleeping?" she asks as she sits at the table.

"More like, he take short naps every other week."

She frowns. "How's he manage that then?"

Donna waves her hand dismissively. "He's always on about his 'Superior Time Lord Biology' nonsense."

She sits up slightly. "Wassat?"

"Pardon?"

"Wassa Time Lord? Sounds pompous."

Donna laughs. "You're tellin' me!"

—————————————————————

The Doctor ambles into the console room and sits down on the jumpseat. He keeps staring at the scan printouts like he's going to be able to divine their meaning spontaneously. Sighing, he folds them up and puts them into his pockets just as the pair of companions walks in.

Amanda spots him on the jumpseat and immediately bursts into giggles.

"Donnaaaa." he begins, his tone reproachful, "What did you do?"

"I told her about you, that's all."

"Did you really get arrested and sentenced to scrub the entire floor of the Mashidish Palace of Naois II with a toothbrush?"

"It's not my fault I got the royal jewels confused with a banana, they look a lot alike!"

Both of the girls erupt into a series of giggles that don't stop for at least five minutes.

"Are you done?" he says with annoyance as they both catch their breath.

Amanda shakes her head. "Yeah, yeah I think I am."

Then they both burst into giggles again for no reason. "Oh, I'd rather you were fighting," he complains with a sigh.

They collect themselves again. "Ok, I'm really, truly done now."

"Right!" The Doctor prepares to take them out of the vortex, flipping switches and pressing buttons. "Where would you like to go?" he asks with furvour.

She immediately opens her mouth, then quickly shuts it. Furrowing her eyebrows, she sits on the jumpseat and strokes her chin lightly, deep in thought. "I think..." she pauses, then jumps up. "Let's go someplace that nobody's ever been to before!"

The Doctor sets criteria for the randomiser and gives it a spin while slamming down the most important looking lever and the TARDIS shakes as they go shooting out of the vortex. The TARDIS lands with a great _thump!_ and they all fall to the floor.

Amanda's the first one up. "Where are we?"

The Doctor grandly gestures to the door and she doesn't waste another second before practically flying out of the room.

—————————————————————

Amanda is greeted by lush, low-lying flora and a sky packed with unfound constellations. Her mind instantly begins connecting dots and de-connecting them in different patterns and shapes. Finally, as the others join her, she finds the perfect shape. "That one," she says, pointing to the newly made gathering of the distant, shining orbs.

"That one what?" inquires Donna

She starts pointing out the stars in her constellation. "That star and that one make a nose, and those ones over there make eyes," she says, making sure they know which stars she's talking about by describing them in reference to the larger ones. "-see, if those make a tail, it looks like a wolf."

Donna considers her words and the heavens sanctioned out above. "I suppose you're right."

"I dub it," she pauses for effect. "The Bad Wolf constellation," the Doctor physically recoils at her words, unbeknownst to the both of them. "It was made from something never done before, from something that dared, from wild chance, and the right view." She doesn't notice the shocked and devastated look on the Doctor's face, nor can she sense his feelings because of his mental shields. Unperturbed, she continues speaking. "I wish I was that Bad, Bad Wolf, but no. No, I'm an in-between wolf."

She turns back to them, but by then the Doctor had schooled his features into a calm mask. She gives a loud, "Arrooo!" before running past them and the TARDIS straight into a field of flowers that gleam in the starlight.

—————————————————————

"Hey Doctor," Donna says, "You see that one tree over there?"

He looks up. "Yes."

"Every plant here reflects the light from the stars and the moons, and there aren't any other trees, just these flowers and the grass," she prods at the soil with her shoe, gesturing to the ankle high plants. "And that tree there, it doesn't reflect anything, it's really dark."

The Doctor gives it a more concentrated look. "A very good observation, Donna."

Amanda hops up from her cross-legged position on the ground with great agility. "I'm gonna go investigate," she proclaims, and takes off.

"Wait a minute," Donna calls, but she's practically there already.

Just before she gets to the tree, however, she disappears completely from view.

The Doctor rises from his relaxed place on the ground and starts after her. "Amanda!" he calls, but gets no reply. "Come on, Donna."

As they approach the tree, the Doctor takes notice of the fact that all plant life stops in a prefect ring around the tree. "Donna, stop for a moment," he says, just before her foot crosses the line, "Look."

She examines the ring. "Bit odd."

"Let me scan this before w-"

Before he can finish his sentence, something grabs him and drags him into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lego, Star Wars, and Doctor Who characters and objects are all copyrighted, I claim nothing and make no money.
> 
> And by the way, if you've never assembled the full size large Death Star Lego set by yourself, let me tell, it takes weeks. It's very heavy too, so don't drop it or you have to disassemble it all and replace broken pieces...


	3. In the Darkest Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor learns more about the mysterious girl, and it's more than just her skill with poetry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a bit short, enjoy!
> 
> Archive warnings were previously labeled incorrectly, but are now correct. Sorry about any confusion.

_Previously:_

_As they approach the tree, the Doctor takes notice of the fact that all plant life stops in a prefect ring around the tree. "Donna, stop for a moment," he says, just before her foot crosses the line, "Look."_

_She examines the ring. "Bit odd."_

_"Let me scan this before w-"_

_Before he can finish his sentence, something grabs him and drags him into darkness._

The Doctor slowly regains consciousness and the world swims into view. Or rather, a cave swims into view, and so does one grumpy looking Donna, and one psychotic looking Amanda. The latter is grinning like there isn't a problem in the world, looking all around like the cave is the Louvre, and babbling gibberish poems that have nothing to do with the situation.

"Oh good you're awake Spaceman, can you tell her to stop reciting poems?"

Amanda would hear none of it, however, and began saying "Robin Hood and the Scotchman" skillfully, like she spends a lot of her time reciting poems.

"Then bold Robin Hood to the north would go / With valour and mickle might / With sword by his side, which 'oft had been try’d / To fight and recover his right." She bobbed her head back and forth with the rhythm.

"The first that he met was a jolly stout Scot / His servant he said he would be / 'No,’ quoth Robin Hood, 'it cannot be good / For thou wilt prove false unto me.'" Stopping with a "pause everything" gesture, she scratches her nose.

Donna scowls at her as she continues.

"Thou hast not been true to sire or cuz / 'Nay, marry', the Scot he said / 'As true as your heart, I never will part / Good master, be not afraid.'"

"'But e'er I employ you', said bold Robin Hood / 'With you I must have a bout' / The Scotchman reply’d, 'Let the battle be try’d / For I know I will beat you out.'"

The Doctor, still listening, secretly impressed by her performance, examined the room they were trapped in.

"Thus saying, the contest did quickly begin / Which lasted two hours and more / The blows Sawney gave bold Robin so brave / The battle soon made him give o'er."

It appeared to be a cave. There was a carriage lantern hanging from the ceiling, and the door was blocked with a boulder.

"'Have mercy, thou Scotchman', bold Robin Hood cry’d / 'Full dearly this boon have I bought / We will both agree, and my man you shall be / For a stouter I never have fought.'"

The Doctor sighed, finding no obvious way out, and listened to her last verse.

"Then Sawny consented with Robin to go / To be of his bowmen so gay / Thus ended the fight, and with mickle delight / To Sherwood they hasted away."

He gave her a few small claps and she beamed at him. "Bet the scot could've beaten Robin with a spoon, but he probably cheated with the bow anyways, so it breaks even," she declares.

After a pause, she spoke again. "Heya Doc, can I call you Doc?"

"No."

She giggles. "What's up Doc?" she says, and follows the statement with a chittering noise. "So, Doctor," she begins again, tone deadly serious, "I ran up to the tree, yeah?" she nods her own affirmation. "And I saw it was a portal thing, so I kept right on runnin' and ya know what?" she pauses and looks at him expectantly.

Rolling his eyes, he asks. "What?"

She gestures grandly outwards with her arms. "It came out in a cave!"

"Oh yippee," says Donna, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh, but it was a different cave, this one had a fire in it, an' 'round that fire was a bunch o' rocks and sittin' on a rock was this guy." She shivers. "I thought he was a vampire, looking all pale in the face. Then I guessed he prob'ly didn't get much sun, livin' in a cave. Bad for the skin, too much sun." She jumps up on her feet. "So, I came in, and he hops up all surprised, so I tell 'im 'You're surrounded, you and all you kind shall be enslaved and this planet is now the property of the Sontaran Empire!'," her shoulders sag. "I even threw in a Sontar-ha, and he didn't buy it, so I got tossed in a different part of the cave." She looks up and points to them. "Then you guys came and didn't come in, so he reached out an' grabbed you." Finishing her story, she plops down on the ground, slumping defeated against the wall. "Got bored, so I started practicing my poems, make sure I don't forget them."

"Next time don't run headlong into danger!" he practically yells.

Her smile quickly fades at his tone. _Good,_ he thinks.

"There wasn't any danger to me Doc, only to them skulls."

Donna gasps. "Skulls?!?"

She nods. "Yeah, skulls. Maybe there wasn't any danger to them either, 'cos they were smiling."

She glares. "That's a bit sick," she says, trying to be light.

Amanda cocks her head and frowns, looking confused. "I don't think the skulls were sick, Donna."

Donna shoots the Doctor a look and his eyes say _Just leave it._

"Amanda," he says, "Can you tell me what the pale man's saying now?"

"Yeah, sure," she replies, and closes her eyes in concentration. "He's talking to someone..." Her eyes shoot open and she starts spitting out sentence fragments in rapid fire. "Outpost is not boring anymore. They'll come soon. Scents. This is new. The stars are nice tonight. Perhaps I will feast. Feast. I didn't tell them how old they were. Feast." She looks at the Doctor. "His train of thought has focused entirely on draining our life forces," she smiles to herself. "That means I was right! He was a vampire!" She looks away and mumbles something about fitting into stereotypes.

Donna looks horrified. "Don't vampires drink blood? What's this about life force?"

The Doctor turns his head to her. "There once was a race of blood sucking vampires. They were so destructive, my people hunted them to extinction. There's still other types of vampires and cousin species of the original vampires."

Amanda nods. "These ones drain out your soul, Donna."

Just then the rock blocking the exit moves, and lo and behold, standing there is a man pale in the face.

She hops up again and approaches him. "Hello good sir, do mind telling me your name?"

He's taken aback by this. "Rodvickhoff," he replies nonetheless.

"I'm Amanda and I will be your victim this evening."

The Doctor is immediately at her side. "Don't touch her," he growls.

Rodvickhoff laughs. "I do as I please, now step aside, I think the young lady has offered herself up to me," he says darkly.

"Look, Rodvick, le-"

He interrupts with a yell. "My full name man! Repeat after me, Rod-Vick-Hoff," he smirks. "Not difficult, now sit."

"I will not-"

Without warning, the vampire strikes the Doctor, knocking him to the ground. He remains frozen to the spot.

Amanda speaks up sweetly. "As your were saying and/or attacking your victim?"

Rodvickhoff ignores her though, and move towards the Doctor.

"Don't touch him."

He snaps around. "What will you do little girl?"

"I will stop you, that's what I'll do."

He roars with laughter. "And how do you intend to do that?"

She spreads her arms out, like she plans to take flight, palms up to the sky. "Come here and find out."

He stalks forward, and she stands unflinching as he closes the last few feet between them quick as a viper. Placing his right hand on her forehead, he begins to drain the life out of her. She yells in pain and falls to her knees, never breaking away from his touch. The Doctor searches her face for any signs of aging, there are none.

His smile fades. "What is this?" he cries and attempts to pull his hand away.

She stops him by grabbing his wrist. "This is me stopping you," she growls through gritted teeth.

He writhes, but can't break free. "Release me!" he screeches.

She only cringes as he begins failing. Streaks of molten red light criss-cross his face and his skin blackens. Wailing, he burns to dust before them, leaving a pile of clothes and smoldering ash. A moment of silence follows as the echoes of his screams finish reverberating through the caverns.

"With that dramatic scene done," she gasps out, "I think I'll just pass out now," and promptly does so.

——————————————————————

If it wasn't odd enough sitting in a cave listening to a crazy, mind-reading girl recite poems from ages long forgotten, a soul-eating man with an egomaniacal attitude has to knock him on his buttocks.

The strange thing happens as he tries to get up, however. He makes it to a sitting position just before the muscles in his legs, arms, and torso freeze up, effectively paralysing him.

Now she's going on a rant of heroics, and all he can think is _No, please, no, no, no!_

Amanda continues her antics until, unsurprisingly through her taunting, he lunges for her. Slamming his palm down on her forehead, bringing her to her knees with a cry of pain while he sat there completely and utterly useless terrified him. In hindsight, he realised it stung even more when it was a heavy blow to his ego.

Stranger still, instead of aging into a dry husk like she should have, she burnt him to a crisp.

So now he's carrying her limp form back to the TARDIS bridal style, while Donna goes on about how completely nutters she is for five minutes before going mute the rest of the way.

Reaching the doors, Donna uses her key to unlock them and let's them all in. Rather than carrying her off to bed, he sends Donna to bed and takes her to the infirmary. He swears she's been there longer than anywhere else besides her own bedroom, and she only sleeps there.

Placing her on the examination table, he sets up the machine and scans her again. Leaving everything as is, he carries her still limp form to her room and tucks her in without changing her clothes. He debates calling Donna in to do that instead, when she finally stirs. He flees the room quickly to give her privacy and returns to the med-bay.

He sits on the stool in front of the monitors and gets down to reading the info all over again.

——————————————————————

Amanda slowly regains her wits lying in her bed. Why's she in bed still fully dressed? Maybe she'll go ask. Throwing off the covers, she gets up and wanders off to the console room. However, she instead meets Donna in the hall.

"Heya Donna."

"Amanda! Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I forgot what happened though, can you-" she pauses mid sentence. "Thanks," she says, and wanders off.

Donna's confused until she realises she was thinking of what happened. Shrugging, she continues to her original destination.

——————————————————————

Amanda guesses the Doctor will be in the infirmary and heads down the hall, but does so quietly. At first the TARDIS leads her in circles until she sends a telepathic message to her. She gives an unsurprised, skeptical hum, but straightens out the corridor, leaving the door she seeks at the end. Slowly she creeps forward, and throwing up her mental shields as to not announce her appearance to him, peers around the doorframe.

He's sitting on a stool reading things off of multiple different screens. She realises they're her scans. She sees two different ones, one must've been during the first day and one while she was unconscious. A 3D model of virtual her on two different screens and mysterious writing side by side on another. The TARDIS begins translating the chicken scratch for her and suddenly it looks like something readable, so she beings reading.

~~~~

There's a lot of stuff about radiation. A very bad kind too, really, she shouldn't even be alive. Well, she's hidden long enough to read most of the worst stuff, so she knocks on the doorframe and say. "What's up, Doc?"

He presses something and all the monitors go dark. "Just finishing up in here," he replies.

She waits expectantly.

"What?"

"Want to tell me how I fared back at the cave?"

He steps forward some. "You were brilliant, really."

"No, I mean health-wise, you must've done a scan."

"Ah," he raises his head slightly in an exaggerated motion. "Yes, I did," he gestures to the machinery behind him. "You've lost a little, er, energy, but it will regenerate, so to speak, naturally. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

She sighs internally. He must have a good reason for not telling her about the, ah, radiation poisoning, so she won't press it. Maybe he's trying to figure out how to help her, and doesn't want to break bad news without proposing a solution. He seems like a good man, so she'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Ok," she nods lightly. "I'll get some rest in that case." With one last curt nod, she leaves to return to her room.

——————————————————————

The Doctor rubs his eyes. _This is madness._ He returns to studying the results. The neutron radiation significantly decreased after their ordeal, like the vampire had drained that from her rather than her life force. This might seem like a good thing, but the radiation levels were rising again. If he didn't know better, he might say she has a nuclear reactor in her somewhere. Maybe he doesn't know better, so he returns to the screens. Upon more careful examination, he sees that the radiation is heavily focused at one point. He couldn't tell this earlier because her whole body was packed with it. He sends the TARDIS a mental request to keep scanning her, since her molecular pattern is already integrated into the mainframe, and gets the immediate reply of updated information. His theory seems more reasonable now, the radiation is spreading from that one focal point.

Fantastic. Just fantastic.

——————————————————————

After cleaning up nicely and settling into bed, she tries to clear her mind but finds it to be to restless. Tossing and turning for at least an hour, the TARDIS hums soothingly, and she finally settles down.

~~~~

She's screaming, screaming, there's a pain where her second heart would be if she had one, on the right side of her chest, like someone's tearing into it. Her skin feels like it's melting, like every single one of her atoms is rewriting itself. Somewhere there's howling, and a voice growls in the dark. _YOU. ARE. MINE._ With a whimper, she wakes, clinging to her sheets for dear life.

——————————————————————

Donna's making breakfast in the galley when she arrives and the Doctor's nowhere to be found. He's most likely already in the console room. Amanda eats a measly breakfast of one granola bar and chats with Donna.

"Sleep well?"

Donna nods. "Yeah."

"Good," she affirms.

"How about you?"

"Well as any night I suppose."

They share some idle chatter and finish up, heading out to the console room.

——————————————————————

"Donna, Amanda!" the Doctor exclaims as they enter together. "Where are we heading today? How about a nice relaxing trip to an actual beach, Donna?"

"Beach!" Amanda declares as she hops onto the jumpseat.

"It better actually be a real beach this time Spaceman," she concurs.

"Beach it is," he chimes and sets coordinates. "Allons-y!" Flipping a lever, he sends them all spiraling into the vortex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day, I'm going to visit the Louvre, just to look at the Mona Lisa in person and witness her lack of eyebrows up close and personal.
> 
> I'm not an expert on radiation, but I once did a research paper on the effects of atomic bombs and the most prominent and deadly form of residual radiation is neutron radiation. If something about the radiation itself happens to be inaccurate, please tell me and I will change accordingly.
> 
> Amanda makes a heavy reference to Capaldi's Doctor. *Trying to avoid spoilers here*


	4. I Built a Lovely Sand Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Donna are learning more about the little enigma in the TARDIS besides her exceptional building skills. Said little enigma makes new enemies as a lovely day at the beach goes sour....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Archive warnings were previously labeled incorrectly, but are now correct. Sorry about any confusion.

_VWOORP! VWOORP! VWOORP! Thump!_

The TARDIS makes a smooth landing and the Doctor swings the scanner around. "There we are! A nice, normal Florida beach, like I promised Donna!"

Amanda comes back into the console room. "Florida? That's where I live." She's wearing a sea blue tee-shirt and a pair of black shorts. "The TARDIS left me a butterfly covered bathing suit," she says, lifting her shirt a bit to show it off.

Donna carries some towels, a basket, and a beach umbrella out of the TARDIS and Amanda follows her carrying sunscreen and a trowel in a large bucket. The Doctor sighs and joins the procession.

——————————————————————

"C'mon Doctor, how do you enjoy a beach properly when you're dressed like that?" complains Donna, eyeing his TARDIS blue suit.

"By enjoying it," he replies.

She shakes her head as she lays out the towel. Amanda is by the water line, white war paint striped on her face where she intentionally applied too much sun screen to rub in. She is beating the sand forcefully with her shovel, and, just before a wave rolls over the spot, she quickly scoops it up and drops it in the bucket. She repeated the process until the bucket was full and packed tight, then placed it off to the side, a few feet it the shore.

"-brought a packed lunch for later," Donna says as he returns his focus to her, "I hope we didn't forget anything."

"It's fine Donna," he says as he turns his gaze upward again.

Amanda was filling an identical bucket using the same punishing process on the sand as before, but he had no idea where she got the extra bucket from. Then he realises she's already filled three buckets. How did she do that?

"Do what?" Donna asks, and he realises he must've said that last bit out loud.

"She's pulled buckets out of nowhere and filled four of them already," he says as she places said fourth bucket off to the side.

"Huh," she stares hard. "That's odd." She shakes her head. "She is an odd girl." Donna turns her attention back to the cocktail she is holding in her hand.

 _That's beyond just "odd",_ he thinks.

He decides to think of something else, so he looks around. There's not a large crowd, since the sun is beating its way though and overcast sky. He doesn't keep himself distracted for longer than that before his mind wanders back to the walking atom bomb who is currently toting the buckets closer to their umbrella. Staying a good thirty feet away, she dumps the buckets on their tops, leaving them like that until all four are sitting in an uneven square-like shape.

He mentally asks the TARDIS to check up on her, hoping she's not affecting the environment. He doesn't want to endanger anyone. The TARDIS responds, listing current statistics of her condition. Okay, she's not affecting the enviro- _What?!?_ Her brain activity has risen to 2502% of normal. She snaps his head to look at her again. She's currently piling mounds of sand around the sand towers still hidden under the buckets, acting like there's nothing wrong. _What is in her head?_

——————————————————————

_THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! Scoop, plop, shush. The water recedes. THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!_

It's hard work, building a sand castle. A proper sand castle, not something made with rainbow toy buckets and shovels, not something resembling a wet pile of sand, not with a moat that eats away at it's base. Nope, a good and proper sand castle.

So here she is, beating the excess water out of the soaking sand by the shoreline. The sand must be damp, so that the water molecules bind the grains together. If there's too many water molecules, they act as lubricant rather than being cohesive. After pounding a shovel full's worth of sand into the proper condition, she scoops it up and puts it in the bucket, letting the sea reset the sand before her into a smooth, shining surface. At one point, a minute crab washes up and she pauses her grueling task to pick it up and carry it to a safe, scraggly crag before returning to work.

She's carried at least five buckets out with her, but she'll only need four. So on she goes, filling up a grand total of four buckets. She waits 'til no one's looking to fetch the rest of her buckets, 'cos people might think she pulled them out of thin air, but nope, she's just storing them in her own miniature trans-plane dimensional pocket. Shhh. Don't tell anyone.

_THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! Scoop, plop, shush._

Finally filling the fourth bucket, she carries them up the beach, closer to the umbrella and away from the water, just past the high tide line. With a thump, she puts them down in the flattened and damp surface she made earlier, and begins piling up more soil of the same quality. Eventually, she has four buckets and the space in between them completely filled up to two thirds the way up the buckets. Taking them off and tossing them aside, she begins patting everything into position and smoothing it at the same time.

With that done, she begins using her fingers, a stick, and a paper clip to shape the sand into something presentable.

~~~~

Done! Time for a moat. She carefully digs out a deep space a few inches away from the walls. After finishing that, she takes many very small sticks and pokes them into the ground at the bottom. She then pours a little water into the moat and voila! Finished.

——————————————————————

The Doctor, seeing her sitting back and admiring her work, goes to get a better look at her newly made castle and Donna joins him.

"Very nice!" he says as he approaches, and he means it. The castle itself is very detailed. Four towers are topped with battlements and ballistea made of sticks. All down the tower are small slits where archers would shoot from, and seeing light from inside, he realises that the tower is hollow. He returns to looking at the top and sees an open trapdoor atop each tower, with multiple sticks supporting the roof. One tower has no top at all and he looks inside.

"I left that one open on purpose so you can see what each tower is like inside," she tells him.

There's one central branch from with many smaller sticks without any bark on them extending at intervals, poking into the walls and holding little ramps of sticks in place. The ramps are wrapped in small strands of seaweed, holding them in neat row. There was a small archway at the bottom of the tower facing the courtyard.

The courtyard itself has stables, an armoury, barracks, and a blacksmith's forge, all made of seashells, seaweed, rocks, and more sticks. Honestly, where did she find all these sticks? And look! A drawbridge made of sticks.

"Don't stick your hand in the moat," she warns them, "It's full of pointy sticks."

More sticks, she says. The construct itself is incredible. Either she's a master and _genious_ engineer, or there's something else holding it together. "It's well made for certain."

She nods. "I'ma build something else now," and with that, she grabs all of the buckets and runs back down to the water.

"The castle's really good," Donna says with delight.

"There's something wrong with it," he says, and whips out his sonic. After scanning it he announces, "There is something wrong, I'm getting an energy reading from it, but it's not the source."

"Then what is?" she ponders.

Raising the sonic, he starts turning in a circle, and stops when he points it in Amanda's direction. "She is," he states grimly.

"How can she be a source?" Donna inquires as she turns to watch her beating the sand mercilessly and putting it in a bucket.

"I'm not sure." He asks the TARDIS to send him another update and finds her brain activity has risen 8%. Is she holding it in stasis telekinetically? That's a hell've an ability.

"Why don't you ask her?"

"How would I do that? Just walk up and say, 'how are you holding this sand castle in stasis without any technology?'"

"Yeah," Donna says, "Just ask her rather than trying to figure it out behind her back."

Amanda now seems to be carrying her buckets back towards them, so he doesn't reply.

"I'm gonna build the Pyramids at Giza and the Great Sphinx," she proclaims proudly, and gets right down to business. Donna returns to her towel and the Doctor stands there and watches her work.

——————————————————————

"Commander, the target has revealed its presence."

"Set a course."

"Yes, Commander," it hisses in reply.

——————————————————————

Amanda has just finished her sphinx and is piling sand up for the pyramids when Donna comes over.

"It's very good!" she tells her.

Amanda looks over at her creation. "Oops."

"What?"

"I forgot about the nose," she says as she scoots over to it. With a quick swipe, she knocks the nose off its face and scoops it up, flinging the spare sand aside. "Better," she says, and returns to her pyramids.

~~~~

After Donna sat down with her and helped pile sand for the pyramids while Amanda started working details into the smallest one, the Doctor moved away, back to his chair under the umbrella.

"He scanned my castle," she says to Donna, not really a question. "What did he find?" she asks, deciding against catching her thoughts, hoping Donna will just be honest with her.

"He said there was something about energy and stasis something or another."

"And?" she presses.

Donna hesitates for only a moment. "He said you had something to do with the energy, I didn't believe that though."

She just smiles. "It's not perfect."

"Pardon?"

"The castle," she finishes detailing the exterior of the center pyramid. "It's not perfect."

"I think it is," Donna insists as she finishes smoothing the largest structure.

"Well, it is now," she starts stripping away sand from the surface of the largest pyramid, like the desert sands did to the original so long ago. "Because I'm keeping it that way, holding it in optimum condition. The towers wouldn't hold together for long if I let it go, because it's sand, and I hollowed it out. Eventually, it will dry and stick like that, but it will be very fragile."

"How are you doing that?"

"With .00000103078 percent of my current brain capacity," she claims idly.

Donna sits dumbfounded for a moment, then says, "Oh."

"Yeah."

——————————————————————

"We are approaching the target's location, prepare to capture it."

"Yes, Commander."

"Commander! The Doctor's TARDIS has been detected!"

"Seize it first, the girl must not be allowed to escape!"

——————————————————————

Before she finishes her work, Amanda stands up suddenly and looks to the sky.

Donna hops up with her. "What is it?"

The Doctor notices her actions and stands too.

She walks over to him and gives his shoulder a poke. "The TARDIS's been moved, something's comin' for me now."

——————————————————————

The ship lands in a concealed location nearby and a group of creatures ambushes some locals. Taking them aboard the craft, several minutes pass. Then a gaggle of beach goers exits the craft.

——————————————————————

The Doctor, Donna, and Amanda are on high alert, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. People leave and arrive as they were doing before. It's a while until a specific group comes, and Amanda begins staring at them intensely. "Them," she says pointing.

The Doctor looks at them, an ordinary group. "Them what?"

"Them aliens."

"What are we g-" Donna begins before Amanda takes off towards them.

He groans. "Not again!" and they both chase after her.

She stops five feet from them and shouts loud enough for the whole coast to hear. "Help!"

Then she begins running past them towards the parking lot and the group follows her. People start getting up. As she runs past a group of buff men who were previously playing frisbee, they move to stop her pursuers, and other beach goers get in their way too, holding the aliens back as she flees.

"This way, Donna!" the Doctor says as he takes her hand and leads her away. By the time they get to the lot, she's lost in the maze of cars. Donna's about to call out when she sees the aliens regrouping at the edge of the lot. Apparently, the blockade of bodies wasn't quite enough.

Both the Doctor and Donna as well as the aliens begin their search carefully and stealthily through the lot.

——————————————————————

She was going to use the Doctor and his TARDIS like a shield, or a trampoline. She was gonna bounce around with those two in their crazy box and never let anyone catch up. That's a problem since the TARDIS is now out of range. Still, even with her safety net gone, the show goes on.

_She begins swinging on the trapeze._

Running up to them, she calls out for help, acting terrified. Then she takes off. As she expected, people move to get in their way.

_Drumroll._

Tearing through the parking lot, she finds a random car to hide under.

_Half the crowd closes their eyes as she prepares to do the triple._

The aliens as well as the Doctor and Donna's feet appear on the gravel.

_Here goes nothing._

She concentrates.

_Spinning gracefully through the air._

She goes tearing through the lot, sprinting between cars, and everyone takes off after her.

_Catch! She stands before a wildly cheering crowd._

Watching the feet disappear from her place of safety under the car, she smiles. 

——————————————————————

"Wait," the Doctor orders as he takes the sonic from his pocket.

Donna stops. "She's going to get away!" she cries, gesturing to the receding forms.

"Let her, she'll be fine." He turns in a circle while holding the buzzing device in front of him. "This way," he says as he weaves in between cars. Finally he stops in front of a dark blue minivan. "You can come out now," he tells it.

For a minute, nothing happens, then one particularly dirty Amanda comes crawling out from under the car. "Heya Doc, Donna."

Donna gapes. "But you just went running off!"

"Yeah, I did, n' I stayed right 'ere too."

"How'd you do that?"

"Psychic projection," she says with a proud nod.

The Doctor frowns deeply at her words. "Well, now we need to get back my TARDIS," says, sharply changing the subject.

She turns to him and gives him a silly grin. "And the TARDIS needs to get her Doctor back." With a giggle she walks off to nowhere in particular.

"This way," he calls.

Turning on her heel, she walks in the opposite direction. "Just testing," she says jovially.

—————————————————————— 

"Commander, the girl has escaped."

"Initiate the secondary plan then."

All of the Zygons drop their disguises, reverting to their original forms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter, I know, sorry! I will have a very long chapter for you all soon.


	5. Tony Stark is the Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the beach to the parking lot, from the parking lot to the car, from the car to the backyard, from the backyard to the nuke shelter. 1, 2, 3, 4...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got banned from electronics for the weekend! I'm so sorry! I finished this chapter a bit short to get it out and let y'all know I didn't forget you! (I cry for every grammatical or spelling error.)
> 
> Yeah, I wrote that summary to the tune of "Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini", because I was thinking of a beach. That always happens. Though, I don't always write summaries to the tune, so don't worry.

_Previously_

_"Commander, the girl has escaped."_

_"Initiate the secondary plan then."_

_All of the Zygons drop their disguises, reverting to their original forms._

The small capsule rises from the ground, carrying all the Zygons back to the mother ship, which is hidden some distance away.

"Commander, shall we activate the signal?"

"Not yet, we mustn't damage the target."

Manipulating some organic controls, the commanding Zygon cycles through the multiple observation devices currently placed in the area. "The girl will most likely return to her original dwelling."

——————————————————————

_"How'd you do that?"_

_"Psychic projection," she says with a proud nod._

_The Doctor frowns deeply at her words. "Well, now we need to get back my TARDIS," he says, sharply changing the subject._

_She turns to him and gives him a silly grin. "And the TARDIS needs to get her Doctor back." With a giggle she walks off to nowhere in particular._

_"This way," he calls_.

_Turning on her heel, she walks in the opposite direction. "Just testing," she says jovially._

As they walk, the Doctor starts talking. "I have several theories as to what they might be, but they're not Litians again."

"Know that," she says, looking at him like he's an idiot.

He splutters indignantly at her, then continues, "And you need to cut the connection between you and your stasis bubble around the castle, that's how I found you when you were hiding and undoubtedly that's how they found you too. You give off a very unique signal."

She smiles at the word "unique." "Okay."

Back at the beach, the roofs of the towers begin sagging inwards slowly.

"Alright," he says, and returns to the subject of aliens. "They could possibly be shapeshifters, but nothing's certain at this poi-"

"Doctor, you're going the wrong way," she interrupts.

"What?"

"The TARDIS is that way," she says, pointing in the direction she was going before.

The Doctor doesn't know wether or not to believe her. He can, of course, feel the connection between them, she's currently humming reassuringly in his mind, letting him know she's fine. He can't tell what direction she's in or how far she is though, either she'd have to tell him, or he'd have to get closer. How can she tell at all?

"How do you know that?"

"I can hear her singing. Does she always sing? Or does she take breaks?"

"How long have you been hearing her?" he asks, slightly worried for unknown reasons.

"All day of course," she comes to a dead stop, no motion, then her eyes hyper focus, pupils becoming practically nonexistent. "How else would you find the Doctor? Follow his TARDIS." With that statement, she returns to normal and begins walking in the direction he had told her to walk once more.

"So what do we do now?" Donna asks no one in particular.

Amanda decides to answer first. "We could go home."

"Home?" the Doctor asks, "My home is apparently off in a rather undefined direction right now."

"No silly," she says, waving her arms in a dismissive gesture. "My home. Where I lived before people got tired of me hearing them think out loud. Not my fault they project their thoughts so loud, like they own the world."

"How will we get there?" he asks her.

Suddenly, she stops. "I have a lovely idea!" she exclaims. "Be right back!" and runs off towards the sand, bumping him as she goes by.

"Do you think we should go after her?" asks Donna, eyes filled with concern.

The Doctor looks at her in wonder. She's brilliant. No matter how much Amanda irritates them, shocks them, acts weird, does strange things, and however far she is from a normal human, Donna still only sees the young woman inside and cares about her. He needs to travel with Donna for a long time. She reminds him of how he can be so much better. "I think she'll be alright," he says, "She's proven she can look after herself, in odd ways, yes, but she'll be fine."

"I still worry though, she can't do everything by herself."

He tries to avoid laughing and winds up with a cross between just that and a snort. Time Lords don't _snort._ Ignoring Donna's incredulous look he tells her, "Between the food fights, the psychic projections, and how fast she runs, I wouldn't be bothered right now."

Not long after he says that, she comes back with a set of car keys.

Donna's eyes widen. "Did you steal those?"

"Nope, I told the guy 'Government business, I must commandeer a vehicle, gimme your keys.' an' he goes 'Baloney' so I show him your psychic paper, an' he says 'But I need my car' so I tell him 'I'm only borrowing it' he grumbles about that's what they all say, and I tell him that he'll be greatly compensated for the inconvenience, thousand of dollars I told 'im, and he hands them over, so I give him those little psychic bills you got, an' he gets all wide eyed," she explains, "Brown pickup he tells me."

"My what?" he reaches into his pocket, but she withdrawals his paper from hers first.

"'ere you are, Doc," and holds the little leather case out.

"How did you get that? And what psychic bills?"

She shrugs. "I took them off ya when I went past."

He remembers how she bumped into him slightly during take off (does she always start full speed?), and shakes his head.

Donna smiles. "She's pretty good."

"Don't nick my psychic paper," he says, a grumpy look on his face as he takes it back, and she grins.

"Only borrowing," she claims cheerfully. "I just gave it back, didn't I?"

He grumbles as he buries it deeply into his pocket, hopefully where she won't be able to take it again. "Ask next time."

She shakes her head. "I would've had to explain, and ya might not've approved, and a lot of time would be wasted. Don't put it too far into your pocket, it'll only embarrass you more when a borrow it next time."

She gives her his meanest Oncoming Storm scowl, but she only beams at him full power and his frown falters.

Finally he relents, but not entirely. "I'm driving."

She shakes her head. "It's a car, not a TARDIS," she says and holds the keys father from his person.

"Oi!"

Ignoring him, she moves through the lot until she comes across the pickup. Pressing the unlock button, the truck unlocks. "'Sides, you wouldn't know where my place is, it's hidden very nicely."

She hops into the driver's side and Donna slowly gets into the other side, mumbling about daft cars. When the Doctor goes up to get in, he realises it's a two person cabin. There's no room. _This is so domestic, this whole day._ "Where do I sit then?"

She jerks a thumb over her shoulder after adjusting the seat. "Hop in the bed, you'll be fine," she tells him before rolling up the partially open window entirely.

Grumbling, he moves to the back left tire, plants a foot on it, and hauls himself up into the back of the pickup. There's dirt everywhere and a rusty chain. Wonderful.

Without further ado, the engine flares to life and they drive out of the lot maybe just a _bit_ too quickly. He really should've been more insistent on who was going to drive.

~~~~

"So," Donna begins during the drive not long after Amanda closes the back window so neither of them had to hear the Doctor's whining. "Where are we going?" Doesn't do much though, he can still hear them.

"Got me a little house sittin' right on the Big O."

"The big what?"

"Big O, lake Okeechobee." She shrugs awkwardly and the car swerves slightly to the left. Righting it, she speaks again. "Lakefront property always sells the highest. Well, actually, I think oceanfront property is more expensive. I don't really care, I didn't pay for anything."

They're fairly silent the rest of the way until he knocks on the window.

Amanda turns the music on, completely ignoring him.

~~~~

Rassilon knows how long later, they finally arrive to where ever it is that she's taking them. The car pulls to a stop with a squeal of the brakes and the cabin doors open. He stiffly clambers his way out of the back and unceremoniously drops onto the ground.

"'Kay there Doc?"

He gives her a scowl, but nods nonetheless.

"It's okay, you'll get plenty of chances to drive later."

This only makes his scowl more. How did anyone ever put up with this person?

"Where are we?" Donna asks, "I don't see a lake."

"Issa over this way," she says, and promptly begins marching in the stated direction.

——————————————————————

"Commander, the target is drawing very near."

The commanding Zygon turns to one of pods holding humans for their body prints. "Take these forms, and go find where she resides."

"We have not yet found it," he replies, moving to a pod's controls.

"The girl will lead us there," returning to the monitor, he scans the area.

——————————————————————

Amanda stops mid-stride and turns to the Doctor, "Heya Doc?"

"Doctor," he corrects, finding that term "Doc" to be infinitely irritating, but only because Jack said it first. As many times as he told the infamous Jack Harkness to stop calling him that, he hadn't really minded. Thinking of Jack reminds him of Rose. He wishes she would stop calling him that.

"Heya Doctor, ya mind using that whir tube thing to scan for bugs or something? Not skeeter bugs, microphones or something. Cameras," she says, rubbing her hands together in a nervous but practiced motion. So she has a nervous tic. She most likely has multiple nervous tics. Someone who listens everyday to what people think, voluntarily or not, for years, is bound to suffer some degree of paranoia. She wouldn't want anyone to be able to determine her thoughts.

Just to humor her, he pulls it out and scans a wide area for show. _Affirmative._ He blinks. He scans more carefully this time, and discovers some form of wireless surveillance device. Might be normal in a public area, but this is private property. He fine tunes the sonic and has another round, _Non-terrestrial technology confirmed._ With that happy hum in his head, he configures a jamming sequence and sets it to run in a loop from his screwdriver.

With the signal running, he turns back to her. "If there was anything, it can't see us now. Running a jammer from the sonic, don't worry."

She nods, returns to her punishing march, and begins to speak.

"The old occupants of this house were bat-shit crazy if you ask me," she tells them while gesturing to the house nearly two hundred yards away. Donna frowns at her choice of words. "And in their bat-shit craziness, they built a nuke shelter. Rich idiots they were. Filled it with distilled water and non-perishable items." She shakes her head, "Who builds an underground shelter in Florida?"

They come across a small, abandoned, falling to pieces shed that is mostly concealed in a clump of weeds and trees and she pauses.

"Mind the sawgrass, it's called that for a reason," she warns, gingerly pushing the tall shoots aside. "Anyways," she continues, "They moved out, prob'ly wanted to find a bigger lot to build a shelter in, which, by the way, I don't even think it's legal," she stops speaking as she attempts to yank the door open. After three tries, she gives up and kicks it in, smashing her way through the warped and rotted wood. "The new folk in the house don't even know this is here," she brushes splinters off her shirt and kicks away a decrepit mat, "So I moved in. 'd be a shame to let it go unused. The poor saps in the house are stilling paying for electricity down here and they don't even know it." She lifts a trapdoor and descends into darkness. Neither of them want to follow her down there, so Donna makes him go first of course.

——————————————————————

She hasn't been here in quite some time. A wave of nostalgia washes over her as she grabs the large metal wheel in the dark and turns it. With a great heave, she forces it open and steps inside, hand reaching out for the chain to turn on the lights and finding it immediately. With a click, the low hanging industrial lighting turns on, filling the room with bright light and an quiet electrical hum. She turns and ushers them to enter with the assistance of many shooing motions with her hands and then shuts the heavy door with a muted thump.

She turns to inspect the place and, with the exception of one Time Lord and one Donna Noble, the place in exactly how she left it. It is roomy, and with living space enough for two, it was always more than good enough for her. All of the original furnishings are in good condition. The rich paranoid couple had everything in here. A sofa, coffee table, an entire home entertainment system, widescreen, DVD and blu-ray player, PS3 and Xbox, surround sound, the works. She would have sold the Xbox, but she likes playing the first three Halo games. A selection of her own DVDs and games filled the shelves. There's a iPod dock, but she doesn't have one. There's a kitchen behind her with a pantry stocked with enough food for five years if it was just her.

Moving on to the bedroom, there's a fluffy king-size, a table with a desktop, a sleek laptop, and two external hard drives on it. Shelves packed with books and personal nick-nacks claim a corner. Multiple plastic bins and cardboard boxes claim another. Across the hall's a bathroom made for the gods. All in all, it's a fine crib. Paranoia's not all bad. _If you say so,_ says that inner-voice that loves to remind her how messed up she is. _Shove a stick up it,_ she tells it.

"What'd ya think then, Doctor? Donna?," she smiles. "I like that. Doctor Donna. DoctorDonna. What'd ya think DoctorDonna?" They both stare at her funny, but she's made a lovely discovery, so she doesn't care.

"Iiiit'sss.... Quaint," the Doctor says hesitantly.

 _Good enough._ "Ok then Time Lord. You have as much time here as you need to think up something clever, 'cos I 'aven't the foggiest as how to best retrieve one blue time machine."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Love you too, now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go change and lie down."

——————————————————————

"The Doctor is jamming our equipment, commander."

"What about the scouts we have sent out, Zarys?"

"They have not found the target."

"This is unacceptable!"

"I understand, commander, but there is little to do."

"Are we certain the girl even has such powers, commander?" another Zygon inquires.

"Yes, we have received the information from a source most valid. With her, the subjugation of planets shall be swift and easy."

Zarys scoffs the best a Zygon can. "Primitive planets such as these are already easy to subjugate."

"Many have underestimated the prowess of humankind before, those many have failed. We must be certain."

"As you wish, commander."

A fourth Zygon speaks up. "What of the Skarasen, commander?"

"We may need it yet, move it to the nearest lake big enough to sustain it."

"Yes, commander," he affirms.

——————————————————————

"Right," says the Doctor, who is currently sitting on the couch, as Amanda comes out of her room wearing an new outfit. It's all black and navy blue. Black trousers, black boots, black leather jacket, and a navy blue shirt. A tight fitting black collar of a second shirt peeks out from under her first. At a second glance, she's wearing a black leather belt too.

"I know, it's drab," she grabs a granola bar out of a bowl on the counter behind them. "But it's warm, stays dry, is durable, and is good for sneakin' around," she says with a quick wink.

"Anyways, a plan," he begins, "You can hear the TARDIS, so you and I are going to go out and find her," he gives his sonic screwdriver a wave. "Gotta find out who took her too."

"A good plan!" she exclaims and stands with a flourish. She seems to deflate by intentionally relaxing quickly but smoothly, "Let's go then."

"Oi, wait a minute, you're not gonna leave me here."

She stops. "It'll be quick Donna, we'll be back before you can finish _The Avengers_ , Tony Stark's the best."

"I ain't watchin' a flippin' movie while you two are off getting into trouble!"

Amanda rolls her eyes. "If we get into trouble, we'll call," she turns the handle to open the door. Once the door is open, the Doctor strides through and she follows. Ignoring Donna's griping, she closes the door again.

She follows him up into the dark shed and shoves the mat back over the trapdoor. "Onward."

He carefully climbs out of the wreckage of a building and she picks her way out after him, but notices something he doesn't.

"There's a fog rollin' in Doctor..."

He turns to face the unnatural line of mist pushing its way steadily towards them. Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, he scans it. "It's nerve gas," he spits out in surprise and turns to her. "Run!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This adventure is based lightly off of the season 13 episode, _Terror of the Zygons._ Fourth Doctor, 1975.
> 
> While it is based off of canon at times, this story is practically an AU, but not quite. It just doesn't fit anywhere between any TV stories.
> 
> I have never been to Okeechobee, but I know there's public and private lakefront property on every lake in Florida worth stickin' your big toe in.


	6. And the World Will Burn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A serious development occurs for our newest companion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Northerners, take not any offense please, the word "Yankee" is used in this chapter, and it may bother some people, and if it does... Well, sorry.
> 
> Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I was debating the progression of Amanda's character, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect! Also, I got most of my writing done between 12:00 am and 5:30 am over several nights, because that's when the best ideas come out to haunt me... When I really just want to sleep. (My muse is quite the night owl!) Enjoy!
> 
> For that one lovely commenter and anyone else who was exasperated at the shortness of my chapters, here is a good long one for you!

_Previously_

_"There's a fog rollin' in Doctor..."_

_He turns to face the unnatural line of mist pushing its way steadily towards them. Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, he scans it. "It's nerve gas," he spits out in surprise and turns to her. "Run!"_

And _zip!_ off like a rocket. Nerve gas. Caught in that and they'll be out like lights. Or at least she will. Not sure about him and his "superior Time Lord biology" nonsense. And Donna'll be fine, lovely filtration system in the vents of that bunker. Even if that doesn't do any good, she's safe in the little walnut of a house. I hate walnuts. They hurt to get hit with. Is that really where her train of thought is going right now? Switch rails girlie, we got bigger cows to hit.

"Oi, we actually gonna outrun this fog Doc-"

_Grrooooaar!_

"Scratch that, are we gonna outrun what's in the fog?"

"Erm," he says, not even panting. Well, she's not either, so maybe his superiority lies in athletics as compared to most people. Alien biology my behind.

She shakes her head and almost trips over a branch. With some fancy footwork, mainly involving taking two ridiculous hops at high speeds, she recovers. "And can you shut off that beeping?" she raises her voice to be heard over the sound.

"What beeping?" he yells back.

"What'd ya mean what beeping? The one that-" she stops running. "Oh, pish, it's in my head."

_Grrooooaar!_

The Doctor jogs back to her. "That sounds familiar," he says.

"The beeping?"

"No," he grabs her hand and yanks her along, diagonal to the direction that they were taking earlier.

"Woah, woah, woah, let me find the beeping, it's driving me mad. I need to turn it off."

He pulls out his screwdriver. "Maybe that's what's drawing the... whatever that is, here," he takes off with his sonic to find it.

Amanda is appalled by his sudden change of heart while the fog of death is bearing down on them. "I'ma find it first!" she cries, and races off after him.

Turns out, they didn't really need to race, they found it at the same time, on a boardwalk sticking out over the lake. It kind of looked like a long round beetle.

She blurts out questions like a machine gun. "What is it? Is it a bug? Is the thing coming here to eat it? Can you make it shut up? Should we put insecticide on it?"

He rapid fires responses in the same manner. "I don't know. It's not a bug. Maybe. I can make it shut up," he directs the sonic's attention to it. "And no, we don't need to put insecticide on it."

A second later, the beeping stops, and Amanda breathes a sigh of relief, then stops.

A large reptilian shape is looming in front of them, sliding by slowly into the water. Kind of like a dinosaur, maybe a plesiosaur, but with feet instead of flippers. Huge three-toed feet with wicked claws. Her eyes widen. "It's bigger than a semi, ooooo!" Reaching out as if to touch it she says. "I wish I brought a camera."

The Doctor hops up. "Zygons!"

"Eh?"

"They're Zygons!" he looks at the shape as it slides below the water and watches it until it disappears, shiny scales rippling under the water until they're hidden by the stirred up muck.

"That thing is a Zygon?" she asks, head cocked to the right.

"No, no, no, that was a Skarasen, Zygons alter them, make them into cyborgs," he shakes his head nostalgically. "Last time I saw one of those, it was eating oil rigs in the North Sea!"

"But this is the South, don't need no Yankee monster down here."

He groans loudly and she laughs.

"Alright," she says, tone getting a little more serious, "So, what more about this creature then?"

"I'm not sure if it's the same one or not," he tells her, shaking his head somewhat.

"Where was it last time?" she inquires, attempting to gather some information as to be of help.

"Loch Ness," he claims idly.

She does a double take. "I'm sorry, are you saying the Loch Ness monster is in Florida?" she's starting to feel lighted-headed and is wheezing slightly, but can't for the life of her remember why.

"Weeell, it might not be the same one, I am not sure. It may have crossed the Atlantic, but what for? If it ca-"

That was all she managed to hear before she drew one too many breaths from the light fog around them and passed out.

——————————————————————

He hadn't realised they were standing in the fog until Amanda hit the deck. Literally. Probably painfully too. He realises he needs to get out of it too, before he loses consciousness. Scooping her up, she weighs practically nothing (eat more than a granola bar or two a day, kids), he jogs from the pier. It took him a long time to pick his way back, so he had plenty of time to think. Mainly he thought of why the Zygons would be after her. There is so much more than what meets the eye when it comes to this girl, who he slung rudely and unceremoniously over his shoulder. Out of all the things in the universe, _Zygons_ for Rassilon's sake. He is going to find out what she is hiding, and what she means by "secrets".

He sticks his tongue out, analysing the air around them, and determines the fog carries a light sedative in it. Light enough for his body to filter out without effect actually, so he needn't worry then. When she wakes up, he is going to get some answers.

——————————————————————

She opens her eyes slowly to see nothing but the waxed leather of the Doctor's luxurious duster. Oh, she's slung over his shoulder. How rude. Immediately, she begins wiggling to get put down. "Oi," she says without humour. He sets her down.

With the Loch Ness critter settled in the lake, the mist has dissipated. "Let's go check on Donna."

"Wait," he orders, wanting to grill her for answers by themselves.

"What?"

"Tell me why the Zygons are after you," he says, not really expecting an answer.

"How the hell should I know?" Furrowing her brows, she grows somewhat irritated. "You're the one with the alien brain stuff, you figure it out."

"What is so special about you that alien races are trying to capture you?" his voice is charging up for a full Oncoming Storm.

She shrugs. "I can do fancy things with my noggin bowl material, that's all."

"That is not all," he practically growls.

She shrinks away slightly. "That's all I know?" she says hesitantly, face formed into a look of confusion.

"What about theses 'secrets' you talked about before?"

Her face relaxes and her eyes widen almost imperceptibly, like she's completely forgotten the Storm in front of her, "Oooooh, yeah, them things. I hear stuff's all. Lots of stuff, really important stuff. Nuclear launch codes for one thing. Not sure how I got them, but they're in here," she tells him, pointing to her head.

He stares at her, a little dumbfounded. "Nuclear launch codes? How in Rassilon did you get them?"

She giggles. He said an alien swear. "Told ya, I don't know." Stifling her delight at his possible use of an extraterrestrial cuss word, she clarifies best she can. "One day I didn't have them, next day I did. They seem just random things too, so I wouldn't know that they were launch codes, except I do, 'cuz that's what they are." She pauses. "I could also describe the football teams' play books from the last Super Bowl. That's American Football, not soccer," she shrugs. "Not really a football fan, so I don't really care."

He doesn't quite understand how. "They're just there? Just like that?"

She nods affirmation. "And then I forget them. It hurts to hold too many things in my head at once, so I forget them until I need them again."

"Hmm," he opens his mouth to offer to help her find out how, but thinks against it, as she wouldn't undoubtedly not want any other presence in her mind, and snaps it shut again. "Alright, let's get back to Donna," he says, nowhere near sufficiently supplied with information, but undoubtedly all he's going to get right now, because she's begun looking all around like there's diamonds on the ground.

——————————————————————

Amanda opens the door to the bunker with the grinding of gears and a long creak. "SPACEMAN!"

They walk in to a very grumpy looking Donna.

"Jeez, Donna," the Doctor complains.

"You were gone for forever, and the flippin' door wouldn't open!" she gripes at him rather loudly.

He looks back at the door currently being shut. "It opened fine just then."

As Amanda turns from closing the door, she gives them both a naughty smile.

"What'd you do then?" Donna demands.

"I didn't do anything!" she claims, hands raised in surrender, look of innocence on her face.

They both look at her, disbelieving.

She attempts a light deflection. "I'm serious, I did nothing to the door while we were away!"

Donna crosses her arms. "What do you do to it while you were here then?"

She deflects. "I did nothing but open and close the door, Donna, stop being suspicious of me since you can't open it. It takes skill."

She sighs, but the Doctor presses on a bit. "Mind skill or actual skill."

She pouts. "Both," she says, "The door can't be opened by one person, it's under too much pressure and is way too heavy. Meant to seal out water and radiation and stuff, that is." Finally she slumps her shoulders in defeat. "I telekinetically force the bulkhead open and then shut again."

Donna smirks lightly. "So you just turn one of them wheels for show then?"

She shakes her head adamantly. "No, I use my arms to move it, and my mind to push it." Suddenly, she spots the untouched _Avengers_ blu-ray on the low-lying coffee table, still with a light layer of dust. "You didn't start watching the Avengers! Donnaaaa, I told you Tony Stark is the best. You really should, it's a great movie, and Tom Hiddleston is hot," she grins and waggles her eyebrows. "Mmm, Loki."

Donna doesn't know wether to find that funny or really flippin' weird. She supposes it's normal for teenage girls to like good looking actors, so she goes with funny.

Moving over and snatching the case up, she pops it open and sticks the disc into the player. "Tony Stark is the God of Snark, Natasha is bad-ass, Banner is cool, Steve Rogers is da man, Loki is sexy, Thor is an ox, and that archer guy is a bit scary," she proclaims with earnest, settling onto the couch.

~~~~

_"I am a god and I will not be bullied by-"_

Amanda covers her eyes.

_Smash! Smash! Slam, Smash!_

_"Puny God."_

Once the big green man stalks away, Amanda uncovers her eyes and makes a sad cooing sound over the beat up Norse God of Mischief and Lies. "Poor, misunderstood Loki Laufeyson. Or Odinson. Take your pick. We'll watch Thor next so you'll understand what I mean. Then we can watch Iron Man, I love Iron Man. Marvel is awesome."

The Doctor got bored barely ten minutes in and looked around the small bunker. Nothing worthwhile. He experimented with the bulkhead, indeed finding it too heavy to move. He peeked into her bedroom but stopped when she gave him the stink-eye. Eventually he gave up and sat down on the sofa with them and watched the rest of it. He kept cringing at the violent parts, which mostly included that Loki character, whom he did not seem to like. Oh well, Loki's still better than Thor in many aspects. Thor is an idiot.

~~~~

As the credits roll, Amanda gets up and takes the disc out. "It's late, we can watch the other ones tomorrow," she says, gesturing to the watch she had retrieved when she donned her new outfit. "If you like, Donna, you can take the bed. I'll take the couch and the Time Lord can have that fluffy rug over there, a throw pillow, and a blanket."

"Oi," the Doctor protests.

She waves her arms at him. "Shush you and your superior biology," she waves out the rug, making sure there's no dirt on it, then puts it back down. "Donna, guest, bed, very comfortable. Amanda, hostess, couch, semi-comfortable. Doctor, male, comfy rug. Take it like a man."

"That's not fair," he protests again. "I'm a guest, too."

She smiles. "Yeah, that's why I'm giving you the comfy rug. I could always go get a scratchy and thin one." She sets a blanket out over it and tosses a pillow from the couch on top of everything. "Next time, don't lose the TARDIS, and we'll all sleep in comfy beds. 'Sides, you prob'ly won't sleep anyways."

He gives her his meanest scowl just short of the Oncoming Storm face that sends lesser men fleeing, but just as per usual, it doesn't seem to bother her. He's gonna need a new tactic.

Donna shuffles off to the "loo," as she calls it, while Amanda organises the discs on the shelf and takes out five others, stacking them on the table in front of the couch for later.

——————————————————————

The Doctor settles onto the mat and pulls the blanket up a bit, resting his head back on the pillow. It's not all bad. Donna's gone off to sleep and Amanda's settling in, wiggling to find the right fit against the cushions. The TARDIS is still humming softly in his mind, letting him know she's still alright.

Psychic projections, telekinesis, the radiation, mutated DNA, this is all adding up to something, he just can't see what. It's frustrating him to no end, this mystery sleeping across the room on a sofa. A five foot tall enigma wrapped up in a very furry looking blanket.

Hours pass, and he's still no closer to a revelation. The oddest thing yet isn't the altered biology, not her psychic abilities, nor the incredible brain power, but the alien knowledge. Calling the TARDIS interior dimensionally transcendental rather than the normal "bigger on the inside comment", threatening the vampire in the way a Sontaran would. The level of impossibilities surrounding the person. It's so highly unlikely that he doesn't feel the need to use another descriptive element. He needs more data.

Hearing a distressed whimper, he looks towards the source of the sound. Amanda's face is distorted in fear and pain and she's waving her arms in front of her like she's trying to ward off an attacker. The Doctor rises and carefully moves over, wary of her flailing. Waiting until she pauses her haphazard deflections, he places a hand on her shoulder and gently shakes her. Suddenly, her eyes fly open and she grabs hold of his arm tightly, almost to the point of pain, staring at his elbow like it's the only thing in the world until her wits come around again. She releases her grip on his appendage and wriggles back into the blanket.

"Thanks," she says.

"Don't mention it. Well, actually, maybe mention about what you were having a nightmare about."

"Gold," she exclaims loudly, then lowers her voice. "I dreamt of- of... what was I dreaming of?"

He tilts his head slightly to the side. She couldn't have forgotten that fast... except she just did. "You said you were dreaming of gold."

She blink. "Was I now? Interesting."

"What about the gold?"

"Erm..." She thinks for a moment. "Maybe I was playing Terraria."

"What?" What is Rassilon's name is that?

"Terraria. Yeah, maybe I was mining gold on that."

He shakes his head in bewilderment. "Are you sure?"

"Nope," she states, ever so lightly popping the "p".

He frowns, that's one of his things. "What kind of gold though?" he inquires again, hoping to get a better answer nonetheless.

She furrows her brows and thinks intensely. "I'll find out, 'night Doctor." With that, she falls back down on the couch with a _thump_ and begins snoring lightly.

 _Jeez_ , he thinks, _because that was in any way reasonable._

Returning to the rug, which is actually quite comfortable, he resumes his puzzling over the elephant in the room. Dreaming of gold. More data, fun.

——————————————————————

"RISE AND SHIIIIIINE!" yells a very excited Amanda who is standing near the foot of the bed, arms raised to the air, making a very Y shaped and annoying alarm clock. Donna nearly jumps out of her skin at her volume. Sitting up, Donna complains. "Do you have an indoor voice?"

Not lowering her volume, she tells Donna. "YES, I DO, YOU'RE LISTENING TO IT!" she then lowers her voice. "This is my indoor voice too. Every volume is both indoor and outdoor. Why bother sorting them into groups? Inconvenient, that is." Making vertical shooing motions, she keeps pestering her.

"Alright! I'm getting up," she gripes.

"I've made breakfast, I've been told I make some of the best eggs. They're scrambled though. And I also made bacon and toast. I made a lot of food. Don't worry, none of it is expired, I promise." She leaves the room.

"Well isn't that wizard."

——————————————————————

The Doctor beams. "Good morning, Donna!"

"Morning Doctor."

"I went out and got eggs and bread and all this morning, nice food. Eat up!" she tells them, grabbing a chocolate chip chewy granola bar and tossing it on her plate, which now has nothing but a granola bar and bacon on it.

"Guess what?" she asks the Doctor.

"You know what your dream was about?" he pokes at the question lightly.

"Nope."

"You stole the food?"

She scowls. "Well, not exactly, but stop guessing, you're bad at it."

"Then what?"

"When I went out this morning, I determined that the TARDIS is in the lake," she proclaims proudly.

Donna raises her eyebrows. "How can you tell that?"

"Kinda like sonar." She shrugs. "Sort of. I mean, I can hear her in little waves, but not all the time," she adds quickly. "Mostly it's solid sound, but this morning, she was sending little bursts of song. I could count the time between little waves. If she's really far away, they can take seconds to reach me, if she's close, milliseconds. I experimented by running all around and I figured out without trying to do any numbers directly that she's prob'ly in the lake." She shakes her head disapprovingly. "There's prob'ly still complicated math involved, but I try not to think about it."

"How can you tell that she's there if you didn't count anything?" he asks speculatively.

"Well, I ran in one direction, and listened, then I ran in another direction and listened, and I ran all around listenin', an' that's what I figured out," she gives a firm nod of finality. "In the lake Doctor."

"Fantastic."

——————————————————————

As the three of them gathered outside, Amanda stares out over the water. "I can't believe the damned Loch Ness monster is in lake Okeechobee."

"Language," Donna chides.

She gives a disgruntled hum in response, then says. "Had time to think of something clever Doctor?"

Well, he had a bit. Mostly he was thinking about why aliens were after her, but he had thought up something. Sort of. "I have a plan," he states with purpose.

"Yeah? What's it then?"

"It's not entirely formulated yet."

She blinks in disbelief. "You don't have a plan?"

"I do," he raises his left eyebrow at her. "I will bet a tenner the Zygons are in the lake with my TARDIS, but I'm not entirely sure how to get to them."

Donna pipes up. "Why not lure them out?"

"Good idea Donna!" He turns to Amanda. "That'd be your cue then, just let me scan a few things real quick."

She scowls. "Gotta do what do then, but I ain't leading them here. We'll move away from my home a bit first."

He pulls out his sonic. "Molto bene," he says, and begins leading them away.

"Very well," Amanda says randomly.

The Doctor shoots her a quick sideways glance and, finishing his program with the sonic, he tucks it back into his pocket.

"Can I lure them out now?" she asks.

He nods. "Yep," he confirms, popping the "p".

She stops moving and stands still as a stone for a quick moment, then continues following. "'Kay," she says.

"Alright then."

——————————————————————

"Commander! There is a signal once more!"

"Assume the human forms and go after her!"

"Yes, Commander," he says as he moves out the the control room.

——————————————————————

They're sitting alone the three of them, no need to involve any random innocent by accident, around a wooden table in a shabby park by the shore.

Amanda looks up as a small crew of community workers walk into the area. "Them," she tells him without hesitation.

The Doctor stands and Amanda and Donna follow his lead, but before he can do anything, Amanda speaks up. "Take us to your leader!" she demands loudly. The Doctor stares, that was _his_ line.

The Zygons exchange looks.

"Come this way then," one Zygon tells them. None of them have any weapons present, which is a relief to the Doctor. _He can keep this peaceful, there is no need of any fighting or bloodshed._ At a relaxed pace, the Zygons lead them to a rather nondescript area. Unsurprisingly, they're teleported aboard with a short range teleporter.

Amanda stumbles and he catches her with one arm, placing the other hand on the shoulder of a very woozy looking Donna. They both quickly recover though, and are escorted deeper into the ship.

"Commander, we have taken them prisoner," one Zygon tells him. "They surrendered easily."

He turns to face them. "Well done Zarys, take the girl to the cells and-"

"Hold on now," interrupts the Doctor. "Can I ask why?"

The red blob-ish form in front of them regards him for a moment. "She has considerable power, she will make a most useful weapon."

Amanda goes to say something, but he cuts her off with a wave of his hand. No instigation is necessary right now. Not necessary ever, really. "Who told you this?"

"A source most valid, that is all you need to know."

He shakes his head. "She's not a good weapon," he says, "Honestly, even if she had power like you're suggesting, you'd be hard-pressed to keep her focused for more than ten seconds."

He hears a sound of indignation behind him but ignores it.

"We would have ways," he replies ominously.

"I highly doubt it, she's really scatter-brained and wild." He can practically feel Amanda seething with rage behind him at his insults, but mercifully, she remains quiet. He can tell he's going to get an earful later, but this is worth it. "I also have no idea what you mean by power." Shaking his head he continues. "She has minimal abilities, I've been traveling with her for a bit," he's vague about the 'bit', "And she's just the average human with a inborn and minute psychic capabilities. Really, humans are born all the time with them, they give off unique signals and all. Nothing important really, and not worth fighting over." He refuses to spare her a glance right now, since the look on her face is possibly going to be more fierce than his full Oncoming Storm.

The Zygon Commander turns to her. "What is it that you can do?" he asks.

She pauses and thinks. "I can cause that psychic projection thing, but only with my own form, and never for long... I can interfere with electronic equipment too, only I have to be able to touch it to do so. I can also push some stuff around. I can hear people think too, but that's only because they have no mental shields whatsoever. Very exposed, humans." She stops. "All I can tell I can do really."

He turns away from them and has a brief discussion with other members of his crew, then turns back to them. "Perhaps we have been misinformed. Subject yourself to a thorough scan so we can be sure."

The Doctor grows worrisome, but it doesn't show on his face. He's scanned her already, and while the Zygons' equipment will not be as advanced as his, they will still detect something abnormal, way beyond what he presented. This is not good.

"Okay," she pipes up charmingly, no hint of any previous anger in her voice.

One of the Zygons approaches her with a device in his hands. He holds it in front of her face and slowly sweeps it up and down, then goes over the readings with the Commander. He notices Amanda's fingers crossed behind her back.

"She is very normal for a human. Perhaps we were wrong," comes a hissing voice, and he returns his attention to them.

 _What? She's anything but!_ Deciding against announcing his confusion, he instead opts for: "See? Just a big misunderstanding!"

~~~~

 _That went amazingly well._ He thinks. The Zygons have returned their captives used as body prints, claiming they will have no memory of their time aboard the ship and have actually apologised for the discrepancy. All in all, a perfect conclusion to a day on the beach with a minor extension. Amanda's keeping a friendly demenour, and he knows it's for show. He's still going to need those Crexiliacin earplugs, blocks out undesired sound at an adjustable amount while not filtering out other things. One of the many precious possessions that he does not tell anyone about, let alone share. He can see the wrath behind the mask, and he really hopes she can understand that it was for show, he didn't mean it, she _is_ very unique.

"There you are!" he cries happily upon seeing his TARDIS brought out into the control room. She hums an enthusiastic greeting.

——————————————————————

The Doctor exclaims in joy when he sees his ship. She is _angry_. She doesn't care why he said what he did, he still shouldn't have said it. She is full of wrath, and anything nearby is going to be caught up in the blast, regardless of their participation in the event or what they have said or done. And _she_ had to cover for his stupid mistake, and it gave her an instant migraine. She can't possibly be thinking straight right now, but she doesn't care. Between the pounding in her head and the red tint to everything she sees, regret will be sown this day.

But here they are, climbing into his precious machine, who leaves her utter silence, obviously detecting her anger. She turns to give the place one last look. For a moment, time stood still as her eyes zipped back and forth across the control room, noticing every detail as the Zygons prepare to leave Earth. Everything seems dark. She will make sure that they will _not_ come back for her, that no one will remember this. She reaches out and gently taps a small panel, some form of odd machinery, too quick for anyone to notice, and steps inside, closing the doors. The TARDIS dematerialises, but her song is rueful.

Naught a minute after they've gone, the self-destruct activates instantaneously, killing everyone aboard the vessel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tom Hiddleston is very hot, just gotta say that.


	7. Life's Like a Box of Legos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Amanda sit and build Legos. Somehow it's nicer than it sounds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has taken me a while to write this because I kept doing just that over and over. (Trying to keep true to character while saying what I'd like to be said) Eventually I decided to cut the chapter a bit short just to get something posted for y'all (Right at the end of a conversation rather than an annoying cliffhanger). So here we are.

Fantastic. She steps into the TARDIS with a scowl on her face and he quickly puts distance and the console in between them. He opens his mouth to apologise, but she raises a hand to stop him.

"No," she says without emotion in her voice, then strides from the console room with a vengeance.

Donna doesn't seem too happy with him either.

"What?" he asks.

"That was unkind Doctor, what you said then."

He holds his arms out in annoyance and defense. "I was trying to prevent them taking her wherever, or a fight breaking out, end of the world, all that!"

Donna crosses her arms. "It won't matter to her why." She turns away and begins exiting the console room. "We should've found a better way," she mumbles as she reaches the door.

——————————————————————

Donna arrives at her door and knocks softly.

"Go away," demands a grumpy sounding voice.

"You probably already know this, but it's me, Donna, and if you need to talk, I'll be right nearby."

She hears some shuffling, then multiple locks being shifted, then the door opens enough for her to stick her head out. "What'd be the point of that?" she asks, looking genuinely confused.

"In case you need to tell someone how you feel. It helps to let it out," she says gently.

She frowns. "I don't speak with people, they needn't bear any burden of mine, nor judge me by them with biased or misunderstanding minds."

 _Quite a fancy vocabulary._ Donna cant help but be mildly impressed at the sophisticated way she speaks sometimes. Compared to the ain'ts and odd abbreviations, it's quite a stark contrast. A sign of a very diverse personality, she supposes.

A small smile graces her face. "Thanks." She opens the door a bit more, inviting her in. Donna steps into the room and she gently closes the door behind them and pulls up a chair for her to sit on. Amanda plunks down on the bed as Donna sits on the plush chair that was offered.

"Ask something or I won't know where to start," she says quietly.

"First of all," Donna begins, "You don't look so well. How are you feeling?"

She closes her eyes. "Horrible. The Doctor made a mistake, he should've known they would want to scan me. All these scans, I dislike them," she rubs her temples lightly. "Anyways," she continues, "I had to alter the machinery remotely. I've never done that before, and I had no idea what their tech was like. Insta-migraine right there."

"Would you like me to get some paracetamol?"

"No, it's gotta go away on its own. Pain relievers of any sort never seem to have any effect. It's quite unfortunate."

Donna frowns. "I'd imagine."

"Yeah, give me a couple of hours and the redness of vision should stop. Then I can take a nap. It usually helps." Her shoulders sag. "It takes a while to calm down. I dislike being angry, but he was incredibly insulting. Oughta go out there a deck him right in the jaw. It'd make me feel a bit better. Take an hour or so off maybe."

"That wouldn't be the best solution though," she insists.

"Why not then?" Amanda inquires.

"Because," Donna says matter-of-factly, "It would only make the both of you angrier." She gives a rueful smile. "He didn't mean any of it, he was just trying to prevent a fight." She sighs. "He's always rude. No filter on his gob."

She giggles lightly. "Gob," she repeats. Donna can't help but laugh too.

Suddenly she perks up, eyes widening a bit and mouth making a 'o' shape. "Oo, Oo, he said an alien swear earlier! It was funny," she pipes excitedly.

Donna laughs a little more and she joins in.

"I remember once," Donna says as she calms a bit, "Where he had to talk to these bug people, and it was all weird clicks and whistles, kinda like this," she does a pretty decent imitation and Amanda starts laughing again, hugging her sides a bit.

Pretty soon they were both struggling to breathe from laughing so hard about all the weird things the Doctor says and does.

"One time," Amanda gets out between gasps, "I saw him at the console," she sucks in a deep breath. "Leaning over a bit. I thought he was repairing something, but instead, he was petting it." Donna doesn't get to catch her breath however, since a new round of giggles starts. "I was like, 'Should I leave him to it? Or should I say something?' So I went 'Hi Doc!' and he spun around so fast and got all red in the face. He looked like a strawberry, I swear."

The laughing and little anecdotes don't stop for a while, but when they do, Amanda feels infinitely better. "I think I'll take a nap now," she announces with a yawn.

Donna smiles. "Sleep well."

"Thanks," she replies with a nod.

When Donna leaves, she lies down and tucks in. After some quiet contemplation, she drifts off, wondering how Donna just pulled off that miracle.

~~~~

She's standing on a cracked stone ground in front of a palace, a grand castle on a hill. The doors are shut uselessly before her. All around are screams, cries of pain, sounds of death. Nothing they put in her way will stop her. Alone, she marches against the grand stone facade. Her weapons are ablaze and she wields the flame with ease. Behind her, a city burns.

Her eyes open slowly, and her body feels heavy with dread. She's going to need a distraction. She looks around the room and spots the Lego Death Star set again. With a slight smile, she climbs out of bed and grabs it off the desk, forsaking this room to find a more relaxing one.

——————————————————————

Mmmm. Finally getting back to it. The garden she passed when first going through the TARDIS. There's a lot of strange bugs flying around. A bioluminescent butterfly flits past, all glowing blues and greens. Beautiful. There are plants here like she's never seen before. She gingerly reaches out and delicately traces a petal of a strange flower, admiring its silky texture. The garden goes on for a long time and she can truly appreciate the bigger on the inside.

She spots a low stone table and bench in the midst of a court surrounded by plants of all kinds. Smiling and thanking the TARDIS, she goes over to it and places the box on the table. Opening the box, she begins removing plastic bags of different Legos of all shapes and sizes, as well as the very large instruction manuals. Listening to the trickle of a nearby fountain, she starts working on the set.

Unbeknownst to her, the Doctor arrives and, before he opens his mouth, stops to watch for a minute. The pieces are shuffling around on the table, appearing as though they are organising themselves wilst Amanda looks over the manuals. Interesting. He asks for an update from the TARDIS. Brain activity is fluctuating slowly as the small blocks group up and stop moving or as she drags one from a pile after examining the booklet carefully.

He speaks up. "Err..."

Amanda looks up and sees one awkward looking Time Lord. Yippee. "What is it?" she demands, voice flat.

"Want to say that, er, well, I'm sorry really. I hadn't meant any of it, so... yes, sorry," he tells her sheepishly.

She looks at him for a bit, then directs her attention back to what she's doing. She's still directing pieces around absently as she uses her hands to stick them together. He's a little uncomfortable, but he doesn't want to scare or insult her off the TARDIS. So instead if fleeing, he walks over and sits across from her at the table. "Can I help?" he asks.

She doesn't pause in work, but takes a moment to consider his offer. "I suppose," she tells him finally.

He takes a look at the guide she's using upside down, but she picks up a different manual and hands it to him without a word. He accepts it, opens it, and begins constructing a different component.

"Are humans really born with abilities like mine often?" she asks out of the blue.

He finishes attaching a piece before replying. "No, it's actually rare," he places the finished part on top of its correspondent manual and pushes it off the the side with the one that she completed. "None of them are so highly telepathic though. Mostly it's very minor, almost unknowable their whole life."

She nods and hands him another booklet, which he accepts again. It's not bad, building whatever this happens to be.

"You don't mind me using them?"

"Weelll, it's a bit unusual," he states, "You don't seem to be using them poorly however, so I suppose I don't mind." She casts him a dark glance. What's that supposed to mean?

"Well. I guess I will keep constructing Lego sets with them," she says with a smile.

"Right," he pauses. "What all can you do though?"

She opens her mouth to reply, brows furrowed in frustration, before deciding against what she was going to say, relaxing her face and closing her mouth with a click. "I'm learning new things as I go along," she answers instead. "Ask me later."

"Right," he responds slowly.

"Yes, right."

He makes an effort to continue conversation despite it not being his best skill. "What are we building then?"

"You've watched Star Wars?" she asks.

"Yes, I prefer-" he pauses, deciding to leave the answer simple.

She looks up. "Which ones then? The original trilogy is the best bit, am I right or am I right?"

He shrugs and tries to find the best answer with out flat out lying."Weeell," he starts, tilting his head to the side. "They were all alright I suppose."

"Alright? Just alright?" she feigns extreme shock and follows up with pretending to fall over dead, head gently plopping down onto the table. Suddenly, she springs up again. "You are officially snubbed," she says, turning her head away and crossing her arms.

"What?"

Without looking at him she scolds him. "You may no longer touch my Death Star set you tasteless alien."

He gently places the pieces back onto the table. "Fine," he says carefully, and gets up to leave.

Quickly she backtracks. "No, no, I was just kidding around," she exclaims, "I really don't mind if you keep helping, it's a big set."

"Could you make up your mind for sure then?"

"Rude."

"That's me, rude and not ginger."

She stares intently at the crown of his head for a quick moment. "I think your hair's perfectly fine the way it is," she states matter-of-factly. "Might not look right like that ginger." She looks up. "Got nothing against red-heads, mind," she adds quickly, looking back at the pieces in her hands again.

"Why not then?" he asks, mockingly affronted.

She shrugs. "I'd expect it to be down is all. Knew a red-head guy once. For years too, he was one of my classmates. His name was Parker and he kept his hair down. Perpetually needed a haircut, him," she looks up. "Anyways, one day he did get a proper haircut, and made front of his head sticky-uppey and it looked funky."

"Ah," he replies, mollified by her explanation.

"Yeah," she confirms.

She grabs another component and connects it to the previously constructed base.

There's a moment of silence.

He breaks it with a curt question. "How'd you do it?"

"Wassat then?" she inquires.

"The Zygons gave a look over your biology, which, admittedly, is not very normal," he clarifies.

"Ah," she says, raising her chin in an exaggerated motion, "Yes, that. I remotely altered the machinery."

He frowns. "Thought you said by touch."

She scowls, her face taking on a mean look. "I have never done that before."

"Oh," he can only reply.

She attempts to relax her face, but only manages to scrunch up her nose more. "It-" she stops. "Never mind."

"It what?" he asks. He really wants to figure out how she just _did_ it. It makes no sense, she can't do it, then just does.

"Legos, Doctor," she states with force, handing him a piece he had been looking for before he broke the silence.

He accepts it without a word, trying to avoid any conflict. He's still very curious as to the methods of it nonetheless.

He strikes up again after a while, but on a different subject. "Why are you building things? Couldn't sleep?"

She shrugs, previous frustration abandoned. "Well, I could sleep, then I had a bad dream, so I started putting pieces of plastic together." She looks up suddenly, a different light on her face entirely, like she has been struck with wondrous inspiration. "Amazing, aren't they?"

"The dreams or the little blocks?" he says, hoping for proper clarification.

She smiles and returns to her work. "The blocks Doctor. Though they're not all blocks though, are they?"

"No," he agrees, examining a little sloped piece she was placing a sticker on. Putting more like it in a rough polygon and a rotor in the middle and she could make a Lego console.

"They're all different shapes and sizes and colours and each little one has their own place." She connects the little console piece on a flat studded surface. "Like a personality. Like the person them self."

He wonders where she's going with this.

"And all these pieces come together and make something wonderful, and each part is needed. You can't lose a single one or it messes up the whole design." She pauses for a breath. "And you can't judge it by what it looks like when you're making it either. Like when you're drawing a picture, or sewing a design. It looks like a mess right up until you see the whole and finished thing. Looks like a puzzle."

Her hands still, but she doesn't look up as she continues. "The person making the art, in this case more like a sculpture, is the only one who has a reckon as to how it'll turn out. Like they're the only one who can see the picture on the box. Even then, it's not entirely like it. It looks cooler then. Simpler. You sure don't realize then how much effort it is to build, and it is nice when another helps you build it."

The Doctor sighs internally. Metaphor with Legos. Something very new to him.

"Really though, the biggest thing is that if you rush it, the structure is weak. Each component must be cautiously constructed and put into place carefully but firmly. Another big thing is that you can't change the manual. Artist made the manual like so, and trying to change it turns out badly."

Finally she looks up at him again. "The thing here though is, you can ask questions all you like Doctor, but I won't be able to answer any of them right, because it's not done yet. Asking them wont help it get here any faster," she shrugs. "Shoot, I haven't even got all the pieces yet." She idly picks at the small dark gray pile. "And don't try to change the instruction manual either, I'm more stubborn than the Death Star set," she says with a resigned look.

Finally, she just leans back, looking at the partly assembled structure before her. It looks like a hollow quarter of a globe. Eventually, she sticks a chunk in the middle, filling it in while connecting the other bottom half. They've been here for hours.

"Looks about half done, don't it?" she says.

"Weell, about that, I suppose," he claims after a short examination.

She smiles knowingly. "The box, Doc. It ain't nowhere near done."

With that, they continue their work in utter silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Toss me a prompt or idea for an adventure and I could very likely toss it (artfully) into this story because the more adventures the merrier, right? Just throw it into the comments. I'd like that, it'd be fun!
> 
> Or you can toss me a prompt for something else entirely, one-shot, multi-chapter, whatever it happens to be.


	8. That's Not How That Works

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taking a bit of time off, the Doctor takes both Donna and Amanda to a planet where Donna relaxes and he teaches Amanda Venusian Karate. However, this place has more going on than it seems, and something dark is claiming its vengeance...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about taking so long with this chapter. I was suffering from iron deficiency, so I was fatigued and it made me very grumpy. Unfortunately, I couldn't work up the motivation to write, or do much of anything productive at all really.
> 
> There is a scene in which a graphic scene is described in detail. It begins with "They both take in the scene." If you wish to skip this, skip two paragraphs. Begin again at "The room itself..."

"Eh?" says a confused Amanda. The two of them had met in console room after eating breakfast, and the Doctor was nowhere to be found.

"Is everything better between you two?" Donna clarifies.

She nods. "Yeah, he's still rude, but all is forgiven."

With that just said, the Doctor strides into the console room.

"Heya, Doctor."

"Good morning, Donna, Amanda. Where should we go today?" he inquires jovially.

Amanda shrugs. "Not sure."

He begins circling the console, manipulating the controls with practiced ease. "We could try for Claxis IV again, since the TARDIS won't be rudely flinging us elsewhere. Or maybe Earth 3745, take a ride on the biggest roller coaster ever built in the universe. Oh! We could go to Space Florida!" He jabbers on, naming places and times and planets until Amanda interrupts.

"When're ya gonna teach me Venusian Karate?" she asks quietly.

He pauses. "Weell, I'm certain we'll get around to it."

She looks at her feet with a pout. "Yes, maybe by the time I'm fifty," she mumbles.

"Alright," he says with slight annoyance in his voice, "We'll go to Cleris Dirimis, 4927. Pleasure planet basically. The Cleris Magnus Resort. Has a spa, gym, all that. Very top notch. The resort funds a research hospital too, which is all in the same building actually. Some of the best medical technology in the quadrant. The original inhabitants were Clerises. They were intelligent, but they went extinct shortly before humans arrived. Nobody knows why. Humans and the current natives get along well, especially since the humans brought a prosperous economy with them. Anyways, the air there is literally good for you. Plenty of oxygen and practically no toxins whatsoever."

Donna smiles. "Sounds fine by me, I'll relax while you two do karate stuff."

Amanda smiles too. "Settled then."

He nods. "Settled," he agrees and, upon setting coordinates, he flips the lever and they go spiraling through the vortex.

——————————————————————

_VWOORP! VWOORP! VWOORP! Thump._

The TARDIS lands gently on a green by a long road, paved with large, smooth flagstones. Stepping out, they see a road stretching far in one direction, but in the other, it stops in front of a very large and modern looking building, all sharp angles and glass panes. The roof is domed, and drops off in a rectangular shape on the left side but curves up into a sort of tilted and curvy triangular pyramid on the right. A green crescent moon is pasted onto the front of the very rectangular side.

"Heya Doctor, wassat green moon for?" Amanda asks excitedly.

He gives it a quick glance. "Universal symbol for hospitals," he tells her. "This way!"

Both the Doctor and Donna follow him towards the building.

——————————————————————

"Wow." Amanda looks around at the magnificent building. The lobby is massive, and has a few different people and species strolling around in it, going about their business. There aren't many beings this time of the year, the planet's axis is steep compared to Earth and the planet is much bigger, making the seasonal temperatures much more extreme. There's about eleven hours of not very helpful sunlight each 33 hour day. Luckily, the building is very warm. Besides, they aren't here for the outdoor entertainment.

The Doctor leads them right up to the reception desk where a petite blue-ish humanoid is stationed and gives the counter a quick rap with his knuckles. The receptionist looks up from the monitor of a strange device. "Welcome to the Magnus Resort, how may I assist you today?" she asks them politely in a sharp, somewhat echoey voice.

"Three to check in, full passes," the Doctor replies swiftly, gesturing to the group.

"Names?" she says, poising her long fingers over a small blank tablet-like board under the screen. She only has three fingers and a thumb.

"The Doctor," he replies charmingly, "This is Donna and Amanda."

The receptionist begins dragging her fingers over the tablet in sharp short swipes and long curves.

"How long shall your visit be?"

He turns and gives them a sidelong glance. Amanda shrugs. He turns back to her. "One full day will do."

She continues scribbling on the blank space. Small orange tails follow after her fingers until she lifts them and the completed symbol fades. "Payment?" she requests, looking up.

The Doctor reaches into his pocket and produces a thin metal stick and hands it to her. She examines it briefly, then plugs it into a small device and swiftly withdrawals it. She takes three thin strips of colourful plastic and hands them and the stick back to the Doctor. "Enjoy your stay. If you require anything, do please notify any attendant."

"Molto Bene," he exclaims, sticking the metal back into his pocket and handing a strip to each of them.

He leads them away from the desk and farther into the building. Amanda gazes about in wonder, examining every detail. She passes a red skinned humanoid and stares before realising she is being rude and shakes her head, snapping back to attention. Then she spots a group of humanoids with multicoloured skin.

"They're all... pink and yellow," she says hesitantly, almost to herself. "And that one is pink and orange. It's kinda odd."

"Well, think of what you look like to them!" he states indignantly.

She looks down at her clothes. "All black and brown I suppose."

"Right," he confirms, but it reminds him of a similar situation.

_"They're cats." Rose looks at one passing by with a nod._

_He gives her an indignant look. "Well, think of what you look like to them- all pink and yellow."_

Stop it, he chides himself. Finally they come to a large glass arch. Inside is a magnificent display. "Here we are Donna."

There are rows of comfy looking lounges, some occupied, many not. A pool consumes a large portion of the room. Steam is wafting out from underneath double doors off to one side of the room, but not from other side doors. Some attendants- all of which are blue with different sorts of patterns on their skin- were massaging some of the lounges' occupants with multiple products of sorts. The walls were a mellow shade of cream, the tiled floor was entirely a massive mosaic of many different colours.

"Like I said about the research hospital, everything is top-notch, the lotions and things they use here are very good for your skin. Good for all of you. The incenses are wonderful for the synapses, though I do prefer tea," he says, glancing at small smoking sticks in a decorative vase.

Amanda walks over and gives them a good long sniff. "Smell nice too," she announces. She takes one more long whiff before returning to them.

The Doctor turns to Donna. "Go on then, the card is all access. Get a full restorative treatment, relaxing and such. Enjoy yourself."

She smiles. "I will Spaceman, thanks."

He beams at her and gently touches her arm as he passes, gesturing for Amanda to follow him with his other hand. The two of them exit the room and return to the wide hall.

——————————————————————

Amanda is positively vibrating with energy. It's always nice to disable an opponent without mortally wounding them. Then you can taunt them without feeling guilty. One would suppose they would find it rather reassuring as well.

The Doctor pushes open a very large set of double doors and Amanda's mouth forms a little 'o' in wonder. There are rows of training equipment of various shapes and sizes. Equally various species of aliens were using them.

"Doctor," Amanda says in wonder, "That alien looks like it's all tied up in a knot!" The alien in question had about a million tentacles and was wrapped around and through a series of metal bars.

The Doctor spares a quick glance. "Oh, a Neskaluzian! He's simply stretching, he's an acrobat!"

As she watches the creature deftly removes itself from the tangle and gracefully moves about the bars, limbs going this way and that with flowing motions. She can certainly believe that, it is like art. She notices the Doctor moving away and jogs to catch up. Eventually they come upon an area covered in a blank white mat. There were people practicing some form of martial art of in one corner.

"That's Descan Karate, very different than Venusian. More bone breaking, that," the Doctor says upon seeing where her gaze was directed.

She cringes and turns away, but a yelp makes her snap around again. One of them is pinned by the other. Eventually, he (or she, Amanda can't tell) is released and they resume the starting positions. She turns away once more as they begin combat to see that the Doctor has shed his magnificent coat and jacket. He looks odd like that, as she watches him remove his shoes and socks as well. Definitely not losing any aura of command or his energetic or domineering air, standing there without multiple layers of foreboding armour, but just looking more... approachable maybe.

She follows his example and sheds her sneakers, socks, and outmost layer of black leather. Patting her jacket, she shoves everything in a large brown box and closes it. She then places the box by the one containing the Doctor's things.

"Right!" he begins, clasping his hands together with a small clapping sound. "Ready?"

She nods seriously. "Yep."

"Allons-y!"

——————————————————————

"No, no, no! Like this!" the Doctor scolds for the third time, reaching out adjust her grip on the dummy's arm.

She huffs in annoyance again and allows him to shift her fingers around. "How does it matter where my fore finger is?" she demands with obvious impatience in her voice.

"It's a delicate balance!" he exclaims, "It needs to be just right. See? That puts pressure on this nerve and it causes your opponent's arm to stiffen."

She tries the move again and fails. "This is wretched. Normally I'm good with martial arts of kinds. Did mixed arts a while back."

The Doctor softens his voice. "You just need practice is all."

She furrows her brows in concentration. "Yeah. Let's go."

"Right," he begins, resetting the target. "Position your feet like this-"

"Murder!" a voice cries out and they both snap around to see a male attendant rushing into the room from a side door. "There's been a murder!" he yelps again and promptly faints.

The Doctor and Amanda share a quick glance before he grabs his belongings from the box and takes off towards the source of trouble. She slips her jacket on, but leaves her shoes and socks. She can get them later.

By the time they reach the doors to a small private room, attendants have blocked it from the public and the man who fainted is being taken away on a stretcher.

"Sir, please step back, authorities will be called to deal with this," one says to the Doctor.

"It's fine," he replies, taking out his psychic paper and showing it to him. "Inspector John Smith, intergalactic detective. I've worked with the Shadow Proclamation." He slips on his trainers while they shoo all the guests away, offering them counseling if they are disturbed by recent events and free drinks to relax.

He looks at the proffered paper then nods. "Certainly sir, and is this your assistant?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Please go in and examine the scene."

"Molto bene, make sure no one disturbs us or the evidence. I will wish to question the person who found the victim when he wakes up."

"Very good, sir."

With that, the Doctor ushers Amanda into the room and follows her in, as well as two attendants, softly closing the doors behind him.

They both take in the scene. The most disturbing thing is that it's perfect, not a thing out of place, with the exception of one badly mutilated corpse. The floor around it is stained crimson. Long gashes cover the body, cut straight down to the bone, exposing many unpleasant things. With the amount of blood lost, he didn't die fast. The two attendants that have entered the room are flanking the door. Neither of them are looking at the body.

The attack looks so vicious, but it seems meticulous. Every shallow cut scarcely avoids slicing through major arteries and veins, while the deepened ones seem to have been made later. He was not intended to bleed to death swiftly. It seems the lethal blow was the severing of the carotid artery.

The room itself is untouched but the body is badly damaged. It's almost like an animal had at it, but it is far to deliberate for a random attack. The Doctor takes out his screwdriver and scans the body.

"Did anyone hear any noise from this room?" the Doctor asks them.

"No, sir. I was working directly outside this room and I heard no disturbance," one of them replies without looking.

"Hmm."

"The species is human," the other pipes up. She's very petite and looks a bit uncomfortable.

Amanda can't blame her, the scene is highly disturbing. The attack looks like it was just to inflict pain. She closes her eyes. Then she opens them and moves closer to the Doctor. "Heya, Doctor."

"Hmm?" he responds, stopping his scan and glancing up. "Do you need to leave?" he asks quietly.

"No, I'm fine, but I think I could help."

"Not right now," he says dismissively.

"Obviously not now, you're the Doctor," she huffs, "But you know," she taps her head. "I can hear them think?" she clarifies questioningly.

His eyes widen. "Yes! Of course! Excellent!" he nods. "There's not much to do here right now, let's gather everyone up. "You," he says, pointing the the man standing at attention. "Gather everyone up and bring them here, we need to eliminate suspects."

Amanda straightens up. "The game is afoot!" she announces with zeal. The Doctor gives her an incredulous look and her mood deflates. "Just trying to keep things light," she mumbles. Murder tends to be depressing.

——————————————————————

"30 resort staff, including myself, and 24 guests," the chief manager reports. "This time of the season is incredibly slow."

"Could anyone be in the medical wing?" the Doctor asks.

"No, it's sealed."

"Good." He turns to Amanda. "How do you plan on doing this?"

She thinks back to their swift conversation. "Eliminate innocents from the suspect pool."

"Yes, but how?"

"Not sure."

He looks at her carefully. "What exactly do you plan on doing?" he clarifies some, "You said catch their thoughts, but that's only the forefront of their mind, yeah?"

She makes small shooing motions. "Go question them, I'll listen to what they're not saying."

"Right!" he announces to them. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to question each of you individually. Donna, keep an eye on everyone."

"Yeah," she agrees.

——————————————————————

"And where were you at half past 26?" the Doctor asks, the starlight coming in through the window softly shifting.

"I was in the spa, a masseuse was massaging my back."

"So you were not alone?"

The alien shakes its head. "There were multiple beings in the room with me receiving similar treatments."

He nods. "Thank you, that's all I need from you for now."

He turns to Amanda as it leaves and raises his eyebrows.

She nods approval. "I did not sense any form of guilt, and a solid alibi, yes?"

"Yes," he turns his head and calls to Donna. "You can send the next one i-"

"Gah!" Amanda yelps with pain suddenly. He snaps his head back around to see her clutching the sides of her head. She staggers and her arms fall limply to her sides. Her eyes roll back and she begins falling forward. The Doctor rushes to catch her before she hits the ground. He lays her down gently and checks her pulse. It's thready and weak.

"What the hell?" he looks up. "I need help in here!" he yells. Some staff move in and see her on the floor. "She needs medical attention!" he says, panic creeping into his voice. Her breathing is laboured and her vital signs are quickly failing.

"We'd need to unseal the hospital for this," claims the only medical officer on staff, "We need access to more advanced equipment, she appears to be dying."

The manager nods. "Come quickly then." He leaves the room and the Doctor and medic follow, propping her up between them. He issues orders to some staff to keep everyone contained to this room and sets a quick pace towards the medical wing. Just before they make it to the hall, the Doctor feels a dark presence settle on the back of his neck, like he's being watched by... something truly evil. He turns his head, but all he can see is a confused and worried crowd and Donna, equally worried. He shakes it off and keeps going. Something horrible is hiding here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *UPDATE*
> 
> I'm going away for a couple of weeks and won't be posting any new chapters. Today is the 19th of December and I'm hoping to be back writing on the 10th of January at the most. Love all y'all readers, and have wonderful and safe holidays!


	9. Eye of the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go to heck in a hand basket real fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eherm. Measurements are in imperial form. Sorry for those who use the SI system, but I was never taught anything else, or if I was, it didn't stick because we don't use it where I live.
> 
> Happy new year all!

_Previously_

_"We'd need to unseal the hospital for this," claims the only medical officer on staff, "We need access to more advanced equipment, she appears to be dying."_

_The manager nods. "Come quickly then." He leaves the room and the Doctor and medic follow, propping her up between them. He issues orders to some staff to keep everyone contained to this room and sets a quick pace towards the medical wing. Just before they make it to the hall, the Doctor feels a dark presence settle on the back of his neck, like he's being watched by... something truly evil. He turns his head, but all he can see is a confused and worried crowd and Donna, equally worried. He shakes it off and keeps going. Something horrible is hiding here._

 

Noises. All around her are noises but she can neither see nor name their sources. Everything is dark now. There was one very clear sound. There was a voice, a cold and ancient voice. It said one word.

_Die._

So she did. She stopped everything and died. She can't even remember what she was doing before she did. Seems a reasonable side effect of death though.

_Ssssssssss._

It's a bit bland actually. No light at the end of the tunnel, no angels taking her up to pearly gates or tossing her into a fiery pit, there's just dark. If she tries hard enough, it seems as though remnants of light are swirling through it. Purple flowing patches, like if it long since forgot how to shine. She has the oddest feeling of someone dragging her through the void, but she started from nowhere and there's no place to go.

_Rrrhhmmmmmm._

A strange sort of humming begins all around her and she slips into utter oblivion, not a thought left to think.

——————————————————————

The hospital doors unseal with a very loud hiss while the medic scans her again. The little machine hums as they wait for the pressure seal to decompress. He announces his findings whilst the manager leads them through the now open doors that have slid silently into the wall.

"Her lungs are still functioning normally, which is odd because everything else is failing. Only thing keeping her alive I think, but brain activity is still fading."

The Doctor frowns. "Picking up any form of radiation?" he asks, remembering after the vampire's attack how it was mostly depleted.

He shakes his head. "Nope, not a single rad."

"What happened?" asks the medic as he and the Doctor arrive at their destination and hoist her onto a bed next to machinery.

"I don't know. She was fine, talking, normal. Next moment, she cried out and fell."

The medic starts up something and takes a small device shaped a bit like a shower head and swipes it back and forth over her head. Then it hangs by his side. The machine is too blank. "Too late. There's no brain activity, nothing's functioning."

The Doctor slams his fist on the table. "Dammit!" he yells.

"I'm sorry," he apologises. "Only so much I can do, we have yet to invent miracles." He backs up to give the Doctor space and he swears again and hangs his head.

Then the Doctor snaps his head up again. _Maybe..._ He moves forward and places both hands on either side of her head and cautiously pokes at the edge of her mind. Two presences shove him back. _Two?_ He tries again, with a little more urgency. This time only one attacks him, the other shrinks back. Ignoring the vicious stinging, which is getting slightly worse every moment, he chases down the weaker consciousness. It keeps fleeing, but the vast expanse full of memories that is normally the extent of a signal mind has been compressed into an arena of sorts, and not a very big one, which is entirely empty.

Then he gets close to it and is dragged into a nightmare.

 _Phwew!_ Some unidentified object whizzes by his head and there's howling and screeching. He takes a form without trying to. Wind is blowing heavily and he leans into it to compensate. She's manipulating this world in her head. The second he had hit the edge of this hurricane of dark, the stinging has lessened dramatically. She's using this place to combat it, ha! She hasn't given up yet, but her body is still inactive. He starts walking, he needs to convince her to get it working again or she won't survive this. It seems first he'll have to find her.

Almost immediately he's confronted with something he can't see. A deep growling begins just in front of him, startling him to a stop. He stands stock still as it continues growling. The irritating sting increases again followed by a loud hiss of discomfort from something not far behind him. The second presence has entered the storm and is far too close. It will most likely be forced into form the way he was, and he doesn't want to stick around to see it.

The growling stops. He starts taking a step. Growl begins again. He puts his foot down, it stops. Lift, growl, down, stop. Forgetting the urgency for a moment, he plays with it by quickly picking up his foot and putting it down again. Then he hears a hiss closer and turns without moving his feet to look. Whatever it is is fighting taking a solid shape and appears as a cloud of grey mist, swirling and sliding along the ground. The growling begins followed quickly by paws slapping the ground as it moves. The Doctor stands between the mist and creature and, noticing dirt moved by it's running, jumps out of the way just as it reaches him. It tackles the mist that had moved up directly behind him.

Sounds of fighting ensue, but he doesn't look back as he gets up and takes off. His eyes have adjusted to this dark, but a solid wall of black about thirty yards across blocks his vision in the distance, but he can see around either side of it. It reaches up into the sky indefinitely. He keeps running before slamming into an invisible barrier. His extended hand hits it first, giving him a split second to turn his head before the rest of him hits it, therefore sparing his face. He bounces back and slams to the ground.

Getting up again, he more cautiously moves against it to the right. Sliding his hands gently along the perfectly smooth surface. His right hands meets empty air and he moves forward some and holds his arms out to either side, meeting the same smooth nothingness on both sides before he can fully extend his arms. Keeping his arms out, he slowly moves forward, exaggerating his steps by throwing his feet out far enough to make sure he doesn't run into something again.

His left hand meets empty air and he turns. Not even going ten yards, the Doctor can tell with thorough examination with his sense of touch that he has reached a dead end. He turns around and sees the shadowy form coming towards him very quickly. It writhes like a snake to move and it's more compacted together than the last time he saw it. It moves full speed straight toward him and slams into the same obstacle he met. It pauses in confusion and feels along the wall. Yeah, it's definitely a snake, it's nuzzling the wall with its head. Finding no way over, it moves along the wall opposite the way the Doctor moved when he figured it out. Hopefully there's only that one entrance.

He continues back to the hall he was previously in and turns left to continue his forward journey. Eventually it splits into a T intersection. _Bloody Fantastic_. He hears a dull thud and turns to his left to see the serpent has entered the maze some distance away and keeps banging into walls at a dead end, facing him. It raises up high and finds a hole in the wall. It slithers up onto a second layer of the maze. _Oh boy._ He goes right.

This hall goes on straight for several yards with no turns or breaks in the smooth surfaces beside him. They do seem to be getting colder. A slow misty shape passes above him then stops. He stops too. It wriggles back some a noses though a hole in the ceiling, its case floor. _Please don't be big enough to pass through,_ he prays in his head. It tries forcing itself though and fails. Then the mist loses shape and it pours into the hole with a struggle. Finally it gathers at his level and with a lurch retakes its forced shape, taking on a red-ish tint as well.

It turns to him and lashes out, but all it does is push him bluntly, and he falls to the ground, back to the left wall. He feels a space missing from the wall and flips over, crawling on his stomach under the obstacle and away from the creature. It attempts to dissipate and follow him, but fails. With a screech, it turns from him and continues down the hall.

The Doctor keeps crawling and the tunnel goes black and solid around him. Finally he comes out into light, bland light, all grey, and gets up. There stands Amanda with her back to him holding a rapier in each hand. The blades glow red hot and small tongues of flame lick up and down them. Without warning she lashes out at something in front of her and blackness gushes from something unseen as it catches fire. He can see it's shape now, a massive dog.

"Amanda!"

She turns towards him as the blazing creature staggers back. "Heya, Doc. You burnin' for it too, huh?"

He shakes his head. "Amanda, your dying."

Her eyes are blank. "I already died. Something told me to. Figured this must be an afterlife. Possibly hell. Not what I expected it to be like, figured there'd be more fire and brimstone."

"No, listen, you're in a dream state but your body isn't functioning anymore, you've got to wake up!" he exclaims while steadily approaching.

"Problem."

"Just-"

She cuts him off. "Problem," she says again.

"What?"

She gestures with her chin, sticking it up quickly and lowering it again. "Behind you."

He turns. The serpent is slithering out of the dark into the calm.

"It seems Apophis has joined us," she says calmly. Then louder: "Begone serpent, there is nothing for you here, I keep order in this place." It halts its progress. A calm wind steadily blows the ashes of the creature that burned flat over a smooth ground. "I said begone serpent, your work is failed here."

It hisses in laughter. "Certainly not, I have accomplished all I have needed and lured the Doctor into my trap. Now you will both die."

Suddenly, with a great roar, the wind picks up. Everything outside the eye is torn up and crushed to dust. The whole storm shifts directly away from them. She is running, that's why it's moving. She is the centre. This is going to be fun. The Doctor runs after her, but the serpent is too slow and gets caught at the edge of the storm, and winds up being torn away from them.

She runs for about ten minutes then stops. The dust picked up in the wind settles into burnt out buildings, monsters, and other obstacles. The wind digs out trenches across the newly made landscape and the stones and dirt stay swirling through the air. That must've been what flew by his head when he first entered. The snake is lost in the gloom.

He stops running about two feet from her. She has her back to him.

He's starting to feel dazed. "Amanda."

She turns to face him, a bit of surprise on her face. "Heya Doc, you dead too?"

"You're not dead, but you are dying, you have to wake up."

She shakes her head slowly. "Doesn't feel like I'm sleeping."

"You said someone told you to die, who was it?"

"Something ancient. Don't know what it was really."

"So why did you listen to it?"

She cocks her head. "It told me to."

"You shouldn't listen to it."

Her head straightens. "Yeah... Yeah, okay. Now that I think about it, it seems silly."

He nods eagerly. "It is, really silly. Not worth listening to."

"Yeah, really silly I guess."

She seems to be in a trance, making her easy to manipulate. He hates it, but he gives her a direct order anyways. "Stop."

The storm, buildings, trenches, monsters, everything, disappears in an instant.

He opens his mouth to order her to wake up when he's interrupted by a cold, sharp voice, nails on a blackboard sharp.

"Do not listen to this one, he will lead you into flame."

She furrows her brows.

The Doctor speaks quickly. "It's that silly voice, now listen to _me_. Wake up."

Detail begins shimmering out like a mirage.

The voice threatens and curses him. "It is too late Doctor, I have accomplished my goal, the damage is done. The trap you have fallen into is much deeper than this Doctor. You may have escaped this part, but you will never escape entirely."

——————————————————————

The Doctor stumbles back from where she is and leans against a wall until the real world returns to him.

"She's breathing!" exclaims the medic, clearly suprised.

He looks up at the monitor, where vital signs are recovering. She still seems to be sleeping, and he hopes she's no longer trapped in that nightmare.

Then the machine starts beeping loudly.

The Doctor looks at it again. "What?"

"She's emitting radiation."

He looks at the medic. "What?"

"You had us scan for radiation before, is this why?"

He shakes his head. "She normally has radiation present, but she normally doesn't emit any." He mentally asks the TARDIS for an update. She's emitting radiation alright. About 5 rads per minute for them. That may not seem like much, but Cericians can't withstand much radiation. At this rate the medic could be dead in less than an hour if he stays.

"The amount is very dangerous, she must be moved to quarantine immediately."

"Yeah, go."

The medic nods and presses buttons on the side on the bed. It detaches from its platform and begins hovering after him as an energy field flickers into place over her, containing it temporarily. The Doctor follows. The manager moves to meet them.

"You may want to stay back, sir, we are moving her to isolation. If you could please safe seal that room too, sir." says the medic to the manager.

He nods in response and moves to a panel by the door, entering commands when he reaches it.

She scowls in her sleep upon hearing the hiss made by pressuriser on the door.

——————————————————————

The Doctor can't help but worry for the planet at this time, as they move quickly through the halls. He didn't think it would be a problem since the radiation was never released from her system, but effects of this type of radiation could be devastating. Setting off a single modern day atomic bomb could ravage a whole continent, possibly the planet. Balance here is delicate, mostly because of the flora, it'll burn when exposed. If a single animal was irradiated with only a few rads, then traveled, it could do major damage to plant life anywhere it went. A few minutes' exposure would do the trick, make a living death machine, and the animal wouldn't die from it, it would just keep going. If plant life died, animals relying on it would die, and the exposed creature would keep moving because there would be no life left.

He just hoped there won't be any other living thing in the hospital that has the potential to escape.

The TARDIS sends him a warning, emission rate increase by two rads per minute for them. The field is still holding well, but the Doctor strengthens it with his sonic as an extra precaution. The Cericians have developed methods of cleansing residual radiation from objects in the event such a thing would happen. Cleanup will be easy as long as this stops soon, but there's no sign that it will. He slips the sonic back into his pocket.

"Here."

They stop and the medic inputs a code into a device on the wall. A door slides open and he enters. Inside is what looks like a control and observation room. Through the observation window he sees a small box room inside a larger box. Cericians are really edgy and over-protective when it comes to matters with these things because they understand how delicate everything is on their planet. Their tendency to put in extra and seemingly unnecessary measures will come in handy today.

"I will place the bed into the isolation box and seal it. We must then cleanse ourselves of radiation, decontamination chambers are there," he says, pointing, "The chief manger will call this in with the local government and they shall send a crew to clean everything."

He nods. "Good."

He does as he says, carefully sealing everything up, then leads the Doctor to the decontamination chambers. When that's done, they sit for a moment.

The medic hesitantly begins asking questions. "How can she normally be irriadiated?"

He shakes his head. "I've been trying to figure out that myself. Technically, she generates it. Never any ill-effects, never any emission. Whatever was here, something I don't think belongs on this planet anyways, caused this. Like it tore down a barrier that was in place. Another I don't know as to how it did that too."

"A living being that generates radiation without any ill-effects," the medic ponders in wonder. Eventually, he speaks again. "She died in that room back there. Died. Then you held her head for a few seconds and suddenly she starts breathing again. How did you do that?"

 _A few seconds that felt like an hour._ "Just... I told her to wake up is all."

——————————————————————

The manager was heading towards the main office to contact the city when a young boy stepped out in front of him from the shadows.

"Oh, my my now, where did you come from?" the manager asks.

"Someone sent me here," he replies in a squeaky voice.

"Who? And for what purpose?"

"My Lord sent me here, he sent me here for you."

The manager is slightly confused now. "What would he require me for?"

Rather than answering, the boys reaches out and takes his arm, holding it in a vice grip. "To destroy the world of course."

The manager struggles at first, but can only freeze and watch in horror as a strange tattoo wriggles off the boy's arm and onto his.

——————————————————————

The Doctor asks the TARDIS for another update. She's emitting some serious curies right now. Effectively 12 rads per _second_ for human tissue. A healthy man could walk in there and die in under a minute. In fact, the walls of the quarantine chamber were designed for someone contaminated, not someone giving it off. Radiation could possibly begin leaking through the walls, despite the designed resistance. There should be layers and layers of concrete between the room and the soil beneath the building. It really shouldn't, but if the aquifers get contaminated... No, he'll have figured something else out by then. And with the multiple layers of radiation resisting material top, bottom, and sides? He'll figure something out.

Suddenly, the manager opens the door and steps in. "You two are required in the lobby. Guests are getting unruly and someone has been injured in a scuffle. I'll keep watch here for now."

The medic gets up immediately. "Coming Doctor?"

With one more pause, he stands. "Yeah."

They both leave and the manager stands in front of the controls peering out of the glass. Pure destruction lies just down there, sleeping comfortably but not peacefully. "The Doctor believes he has won a great victory," he says to open air as he deactivates every lock and safety measure, "But he was wrong," Amanda's eyes snap open and she rises, moving quickly to the observation room. The manager turns to her. "Go outside and run far, far away. Don't stop." With a nod she leaves.

The manager smiles, a cold and cruel grimace. "He was very wrong, wasn't he, Lord Mara?"


	10. Now The World Really Burns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the cat out of the bag, massive destruction is unleashed and defeating an old enemy is going to take sacrifices...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story contains some action with violence in it such as fighter planes being destroyed with occupants still in them. Mostly destroyed aircraft. Also, if you are an extreme plant lover and can't bear the thought of them being burnt to dust, this is not the chapter for you.
> 
> Here's the longest chapter yet to make up for the long absence from posting. Enjoy.

_"The Doctor believes he has won a great victory," he says to open air as he deactivates every lock and safety measure, "But he was wrong," Amanda's eyes snap open and she rises, moving quickly to the observation room. The manager turns to her. "Go outside and run far, far away. Don't stop." With a nod she leaves._

_The manager smiles, a cold and cruel grimace. "He was very wrong, wasn't he, Lord Mara?"_

 

The two enter the room with all of the assembled staff and guests. The Doctor immediately notices the fact that everyone seems fairly relaxed. Food is collected on a group of tables, and people talk with each other between bites. Some are using the equipment and two are back on the mats practicing. The medic freezes at the sight too before hesitantly calling out. "Has anyone been injured?"

Most of them look up a little confused. They receive a chorus of nos. The medic turns to the Doctor and gives him a skeptical look. They both calmly leave the room but take off running the second the doors close behind them. Halfway there the Doctor asks, "What's your name?"

"Alkitir," he replies.

"Nice to finally properly meet you Alkitir."

"Pleasure's mine I believe, Doctor."

They reach quarantine room one and Alkitir slowly opens the door. They find the manager slumped over the controls. They look through the observation window and find the room empty. He turns his attention to the manager and goes to touch his shoulder.

"Don't!" cries the Doctor.

"What?"

He gestures to his arm laying across table the control console. "Look."

What appears to be a red rash covers the length of his forearm.

He takes a step back. "Perhaps we should leave. Wouldn't hurt to decontaminate on the way out. Maybe something went airborne. I'll safe seal the door." The leave in the suggested manner and the door is essentially deadlocked behind them. "It may be best if we stick together, something particularly odd is going on here. Right now our priority is alerting the city to the threat."

The Doctor nods. "Lead the way."

Luckily, the trip to the main security room is uneventful. Unluckily, the entire security room is trashed. Furniture flipped and smashed, screens broken, wires hanging loose from machines.

He takes out his sonic screwdriver and scans around but finds nothing of use. "Any other long range communications in the resort?"

Alkitir shakes his head. "Everything else is internal comms. Perhaps a guest might have one."

"Let's go ask."

——————————————————————

The Doctor clears his throat and calls for attention. Everyone falls silent. "Does anyone here have a long range communication device?"

There's silence. "Doesn't the resort have one?"

"Er, it's been- er, disabled," he says hesitantly.

"Is there a problem?" another calls.

"No, no, it's just the young woman who collapsed earlier, we'd like to call in further medical assistance," he says, picking out a half-truth at random. They need assistance, but not another doctor.

"Will she be alright?" chimes a concerned voice.

Alkitir speaks up. "She's stabalised, but we're unable to wake her. Another few professionals couldn't hurt." He cringes internally. He hates lying, but neither of them want to instill panic in the crowd.

"Back to the point, anyone have any long range?"

Donna digs her mobile out of her pocket. "Will this work? You sonicked it before."

"Oh, yes, Donna that's brilliant!" he exclaims, striding over to her, hand extended. She places it in his outstretched palm and he pulls out his screwdriver. "Just a little modification. C'mon Alkitir, we'll go back to the hospital wing."

They exit and the Doctor finishes modifying the superphone. "Right," he says, anxious tone betraying his calm exterior, "This should contact the Governor directly."

Alkitir nods.

He makes the call.

"Who is this and how did you establish this direct contact?" demands a voice heavily lined with authority and bass.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is a serious emergency. There's a radioactivity danger, neutron radiation."

Dead silence on the other end of the line.

He continues. "The source of it is mobile, in fact, it's a living person. She escaped quarantine due to internal sabotage and has left the Magnus resort, we don't know where she's headed."

"Internal sabotage?"

"Yes, I don't think it was any of the staff-"

Alkitir interrupts. "The manager-"

The Doctor cuts him off again. "Wasn't himself, something had him, and now most likely her, under it's control."

"You believe it's an alien threat?"

"It looks to be the work of something that can control the minds of others, we don't know what. The important thing though is that she needs to be stopped before she can damage too much. She's emitting serious amounts of radiation. Something that's never happened before and I don't know how it happened now, but she needs to be contained."

The voice on the other end of the line starts barking orders. "Lizzett, get the state General on the line, I need fast response units here immediately, level nine alert. Get me radi units, the 7th infantry, and a klad of Æther 29s. And get them now." 

The Doctor continues when he finishes. "I haven't alerted the guests or staff here of the threat so to keep them from panicking. Only the medical officer and I know of it."

"Good," replies the Governor, "Keep it that way. Troops are being sent to your location as well as multiple radi units. They will take care of civilians and any ill effect in and around the building."

"Sir," Alkitir begins, "There may be an unknown contagion of some sort that seems to have affected the manager, he's safe sealed in the control room of quarantine one, but we don't know how he got it or if it will spread."

There's a concerned hum on the other end. "Lizzett, get the Chief of Research as well, order in some medical scientists, we may have a foreign disease of some sort."

There's a muffled reply. 

"Anything else to report?"

The Doctor nods despite the fact that the Governor can't see him. "That seems about all we know right now."

"Then tell me exactly who you are and detail the events that led up to this."

"Long story short, I took two friends here as a bit of a break. I was teaching one Venusian Karate-"

A hum interrupts him. "Good art that... Sorry, continue."

"Suddenly, someone cried murder. A human was killed very viciously, shortly after, my friend, the one I was teaching karate to, her name's Amanda, collapsed. She nearly died. Suffered a deep dream state. I managed to pull her out of it, but than she began emitting radiation very quickly. Took her to quarantine. At some point after this, it would seem the manager was affected by the..." he pauses for a moment to think. "Whatever it was. He lied to get us both out the room. When we found out the lie, we came running back. She was gone and he was unconscious, had some red rash on his skin."

There's a moment of silence. "This is very disturbing. What species is your friend?"

"Human."

"Yet she's a walking nuclear reactor you say. I find it hard to believe."

The Doctor sighs. "At some point her biology was altered, I've no idea by what. I've been trying to figure it out best I could, but she's been absolutely no danger the whole time."

"I must warn you Doctor, if she cannot be contained alive, she will be contained dead. Hopefully it will not come to this, but I hope you realise the amount of danger the ecosystem is in," he states grimly.

The Doctor hangs his head. "I do realise the danger. I'm hoping to save her life though."

"I would hope the same."

"Governor," squeaked a voice on the other end, "State general on the line, troops are en route, but he needs a briefing."

"Indeed. Doctor, keep this communication line free, no exceptions, you may need to be called again. Whatever you do, don't let anyone leave the building."

"I will, and no one's getting out those doors."

"Very good."

The connection cuts.

"Now what?" asks Alkitir dejectedly.

"Now we wait."

——————————————————————

"RAIN drops keep FALLING on my HEAD!" Amanda sings in a tuneless voice and she hops, skips, and jumps to Nowhere Town in the country of No Place. No rain drops are falling on her head, she quickly realizes, and changes the song, this time with an actual singing voice. "My songs KNOW what you did in the DAaAaRK!" she gives a great leap, "So LIGHT," and slams down hard, setting a huge bush on fire. "'em up, up, up! Light 'em up, up, up! Light 'em up, up, up!" she hops out of the bush, ignoring the flames dancing at her bare feet and the smoke rising from her jeans. "I'M on FIIIREYA!" She kicks flaming plant material in every direction. Not red flames. Purple and green and blue-green flames. She continues signing as she stomps around ruining the vegetation. She's been out here for hours in the dark, but she doesn't run out of light. Neither does she get cold. _Radiation + Plants = Beats Survival Game,_ she thinks.

A strange wild beast flees from all the ruckus, she sees its shape through the trees. She pauses for a moment. _Why am I ruining all this? It's kinda nice._ Someone in her head shushes her and she resumes her ridiculous dance. "Over the river and through the woods," nearby trees catch fire. "To grandmother's house we goooo!" She stops to watch as another tree bursts into a riot of colors. "See the rainbow, burn the rainbow," she tells it meaningfully, then goes on.

——————————————————————

"Pelican landed, 7th infantry deployed, Deck one breaking off to locate target," says the escorting Æther 29 pilot.

"Affirmative Deck one," replies flight conductor Alpha 4.

"Deck two breaking off to accompany Deck one," states the second fighter pilot.

"Confirmed and cleared Deck two. A full klad is en route, hang tight."

"Roger that Alpha four. Ready for this Kirlia?" asks the first pilot.

"Ready as ever Jenton."

"Engine forward, yaw left, smoke in the distance."

"Affirmative Deck one."

Both fighters switch engine positions from hover to flight and take off into the rising sun towards the point of interest. Thanks to the speed of the Æthers, they reach it quickly.

"Engine back Deck two, we might not be able to see in this."

"Report point of interest Deck TS," orders Alpha 4

"Sir, we've located the target's trail of destruction. We're going to need firefighting crews out here."

"Do you see the target?"

"Negative. Fire's too big. Getting in closer." Pressing forward on the throttle, the pilot guides the hovering jet through the billowing smoke.

"The smokes's not as thick as I thought, follow up Deck two."

"On your six," she affirms. Then spots something. "Jenton, do you see that down there? Your nine o' clock."

"Occasional movement."

"Yeah."

"Check it out for me, will ya? You've got the better angle."

She moves her jet slowly. "Roger that." She gets in close. "Target spotted! Damn. She's just... Dancing. She's actually dancing in that inferno."

"What the hell?"

"Report Deck TS."

Jenton turns his fighter so his guns are air to ground and facing her, ready to fire if needed. "Target in sight."

Alpha 4 doesn't respond.

"Copy Alpha four?"

"We copy. Order to fire at will."

Both pilots hesitate. Kirlia is the first to respond. "Say again command?"

"Fire at will."

She turns and leans over some to looks at Jenton out her right window. He nods his head. "Not a clear shot. I'll take position..." he moves his plane backwards in order to see the whole clearing that was burned to dust. "Here. Drive the target this way."

Kirlia gently pushes the throttle to the left and fires a burst into the trees. Most of them are burning and she's blindly firing into the higher branches. They'll never confirm the kill if she goes down in there. Between the smoke, burning trees, and energy bolts, the target rushes out into open space.

"Clear shot Deck one."

Jenton feels bad. In briefing the idea was to try and capture the target, not go straight to elimination. Now that he sees it, actually rather sees her, it's hard to pull the trigger. Returning to the more official mannerisms right now tells him Kirlia feels the same way. She's still facing sidelong to him in case the girl would go for cover.

She stands in a defensive way despite the futility of it. Then she straightens up and raises her hand toward him.

"Deck one, fire on target."

Jenton raises the guns from air to ground to air to air position and locks them in.

"Jenton, what are you doing?"

"Deck two, report, is there something wrong with your wingman?" Alpha 4 is concerned with the last transmission.

"Yeah. He's turnin- AAAH-" shkksshhhhhhhhhhshhhhhhh

"Deck two, report... Deck two, do you copy?" There's a short wait. "Deck two is down. Deck one, report, what the hell is going on out there?"

Men and coordinators begin scrambling around and making calls. Alpha 4 is in panic. "Sir, we lost contact with both Deck one and Deck two."

The state General barks out in a gruff voice, "ETA on the klad?"

"53 minutes, sir."

"I told the Commander General we needed more instant response fighters in the city, now we've lost them both. Now I must tell two families about their losses because he couldn't just give us a whole klad to begin with!"

"Radi units have made it out there, do we give them a go, sir?"

He shakes his head. "I'm not risking a single man more until that threat is neutralised! Tell them to stay back at the resort, keep a Pelican on the ground and get firefighter units out there."

"Yessir."

——————————————————————

She's dancing among the trees, enjoying all the chaos, when for some odd reason, two jet planes pop outta nowhere.

_RATATATATATAT!_

MG fire shoos her out into the only open space. She looks around, expecting troops on the ground, and finds none. She straightens up to look at the pilot in firing position. Looks like high command wants to go straight for a KIA. Without hesitation, she raises her hand toward the great flying monster. Slowly the pilot turns it to face his wingman and then opens fire. Dual Energy Bolt MG MKIIs tear through the other fighter with ease and it quickly blows up. This race isn't just known for their medicine, but for their military tech as well. Unsurprisingly, no one tries to invade this planet often.

She smiles, and walks merrily back into the trees, her new personal Big Brother in the sky watching her back.

——————————————————————

"Soldiers are here, Doctor."

The Doctor turns to look at Alkitir who's currently peering out the doors. The rumble on engines quiets down as ships land and men pour out of them, some who take position around the ship, keeping watch with guns ready, but most head towards the resort, half with guns raised. Alkitir steps out with his hands raised. "All's well in here," he says and holds a door open for them to enter.

They lower their guns and enter the building. One approaches the Doctor. "Captain Dekter, I assume it was you who sent the transmission?"

"Yes."

He hums a response, neither pleased nor angered. "Radi units are here. They're going to look over all the staff and guests to make sure they're free of radiation and then we're evacuating them via Pelican transport ship. Where are they?"

The Doctor gestures for him to follow. "This way Captain," he says stiffly.

"Something wrong Doctor?" he asks, noticing his tone.

He scowls. "I don't like guns."

The Captain nods. "No good man does, but they're necessary for peace. They planet is almost never invaded, if it is, the enemy is not successful. It's only thanks to our strong military and advanced weaponry that we have been kept safe. A necessary evil, one might say."

They reach the room with the gathered crowd. All of them look uneasy, and stand (in whatever way they do so) when soldiers enter the room.

"All's well," calls the Doctor. "There's a wee emergency, they're here to evacuate you."

"What emergency?"

Dekter steps forward. "That much is not necessary for you to know at the time. I would like you all to leave the building via the main entrance and cooperate with the radi crews. Then you will board a transport ship and be taken to the city. I'm certain compensation will be given. Be sure to gather your belongings."

With grumbling, shuffling, and the casting of worried glances, the multitude of beings cooperates and exits the room.

"You too Doctor, and you. Whatever your name is."

"Alkitir."

He nods. "Yes, Alkitir, both of you are shipping out too."

The Doctor shifts his weight. "I could be of help here actually."

The Captain takes a quick pause. "Maybe you could," he says, "You do know the situation better." He turns to Alkitir. "And you?"

"I'll stay with him."

Just then, Donna approaches. "Doctor, what's going on?"

"Donna! I need you to do something."

"Yeah?"

He moves closer somewhat. "I need you to go back to the TARDIS-"

"Oh no Spaceman, not happening."

"No, wait, let me explain. I need you back at the TARDIS. It can track the, erm, source. Also, I'm hanging onto your phone to contact you, I'll be needing you to do some stuff." He has an inkling of what they're facing.

She gives him a look. "Alright."

"Go then, and don't leave the TARDIS! No matter what!"

The Captain watches the exchange. Once all the passengers are on board he signals the ship and it takes off, heading back towards the city. The red-headed woman leaves and he brings the two outside where the last Pelican is waiting and a command tent has been set up. Soldiers are laying out equipment and a man sits at a radio. Their breath fogs the air in the early morning light.

Dekter goes to the radioman. "Word?"

He looks up. "No go, we don't have clearance to move forward. The Æther 29s went down before taking down the target. SG doesn't want to risk anyone else until the threat's neutralised."

"Anything else?"

"Deck two managed to get across that something was off before the ship went down. Lost comms with Deck one after."

The Doctor steps forward. "Wait, neutralised? I thought we were trying to capture her?"

He looks around. "It seems high command has other ideas. Sorry Doctor, orders are orders. It's now considered hostile as well."

Just then a squadron a fighter planes soars over head.

"Klad's here."

The fighters circle back and switch the position the engines back, opening ports on their wings, hovering in the air.

The Captain taps the radioman's shoulder and he concedes the seat and headset.

"Fox one through eight, target to the northeast. Form up and move out, be advised, target is capable of fighting back with force, two 29s went down earlier this morning. Engage on sight."

"Copy that, Beta one."

——————————————————————

More fighters. She watches them approach in the fine view afforded to them all in the morning sun. Soon this will not matter, the world is burning, burning, the ground is poisoned forever. Suddenly she winces. A storm is brewing in the girl's mind, she's attempting to disrupt his control. Why does she not just give up? It's futile.

"Target in sight," she hears over the comms from the pilot in the fighter she had remotely commandeered. The Mara directs the pilot to ascend and flank them from above. They won't see it coming.

"Open fire!"

Before they can, her own pilot opens fire. Four planes are down before they realise something's behind them.

"Beta one! We're under fire from Deck one! Repeat we are-" Kshhhhhh.

Another goes down. The remaining three are finally turning and shifting their guns from AtG to AtA. Another drops and her, no he, he is the Mara, not Amanda, own pilot shifts engines forward and shoots past them.

They take off in pursuit of Deck one. He'll out maneouvre them however.

——————————————————————

The Doctor's had enough, no more dying. "Get me out there now."

The Captain turns to him. "She's wiping fighters out of the sky, what could you possibly do?"

He shakes his head. "I have a better ship than those, and I think I know what we're facing. Only one creature could enjoy all this chaos and death."

"What?"

"The Mara. In that case, I know how to beat it, but I need to get out there to her!"

"Only one ship left," he gestures to the large transport next to him. "Welcome aboard."

——————————————————————

The Doctor sits uncomfortably and the engines start up. He and the Captain are the only ones aboard. The Doctor insisted Alkitir stay behind, and he wished him luck. The Doctor looks out the portholes at the burning and contaminated ground. The plant and animal life is so delicate here.

_Vwoosh!_

His eyes leave the ground as a blur sweeps past them. "Captain, what's going on out there?"

"It's Deck one, but don't worry, these ships are transports, not fighters. It has heavy armour and shielding. Low level shielding, just two Megajoule shields, but they'll hold enough to set down," he pauses. "As long as I find a place to set down."

The sound of energy bolts hitting the exterior shields is muted, but still worrisome. Suddenly the ship groans and lists to the right. He hears swearing from the cockpit. "Concentrated fire on the right wing tip, internal explosion, the engine's damaged."

More bolts hit the ship and alarms sound. "Target in sight. She's just standing there watching!"

The Doctor raises from his seat and grips a loop of fabric hanging from the ceiling to help keep his footing. "Get in close and put her down!"

"Vertical throttle unresponsive, we're stuck at tree level!" The ship rattles and drifts right and he grunts from fighting with the stick. "Is it possible you could jump into one of them?"

"Yeah, I could survive that," he yells back. It's about... 10, 15 feet to the tops of these trees? He can survive that.

More bolts hit the ship and the windshield over the cockpit cracks. The Captain reaches over and flips a switch and the bay doors at the back open. "I'll hold her steady. Jump Doctor, may the gods be with you!"

The ship groans under pressure and the Doctor sprints to the edge and jumps. There's a moment of rising momentum and the MGs on the Æther start firing again. Luckily, the pilot's aim isn't perfect and none of them hit him as he falls into the leafy branches.

He flails and unceremoniously falls from the tree. He looks up in time to see the fighter fire on the cockpit again. This time glass goes flying and the ship careens forward... straight into the jet. The two crash together and both explode midair, scattering flaming debris into the trees. 

He looks across the clearing to see Amanda standing there. Her eyes and skin are tinted red and he can hear her hiss disapproval above the roar of the fire. The Doctor pulls out the superphone. He dials the TARDIS phone, it doesn't even ring once before Donna answers.

"Doctor?"

He doesn't hesitate. "Donna, I need you to get mirrors, full length put on the floor ones, there's a room in the TARDIS that has plenty of them, she'll shift the door. Get into that room and set up a circle of them, big, don't leave any spaces."

Her voice is heavily laced with worry. "What's going on?"

"Just do it, and hurry! Tell me when you're done."

There's a long wait. To him it's long. Amanda is scanning the area. She might've heard something, but she doesn't seem to have seen him jump.

"Doctor! It's done!"

"Ok, get back to the console room, under the gravity nullifyer, there's a little box."

"Gravity nullifyer?" she asks, puzzled by the strange controls.

"The little red switches."

"Oh," she says. He hears her footsteps on the grating. "Right, found it!"

"Open it up, find the disk in the Forrest Gump case."

"Really? Forrest Gump?"

He stammers. "Just- Just- Hurry!"

"What do I do with it?"

"There's a little slit on the side of the console, by the handbrake, put the disk in there and hold onto the console or the TARDIS will leave you behind."

"Okay," she says.

"Got to go!" he exclaims and hangs up.

_VWOORP! VWOORP! VWOORP!_

Donna grips the console as the TARDIS dematerialises.

——————————————————————

He steels himself, slips the superphone into his pocket, and exits the brush. The heat is nearly intolerable.

"Mara!" he calls out, sounding a lot more confident than he is.

She turns to him. "Doctor! It's been so long."

"I would've liked it to be longer," he says truthfully. He would've like it if he never saw the Mara again. If it never caused any more trouble. He keeps moving forward.

"Do you finally seek peace, hm? There is peace in death, or so I've heard. It's only ever said by the living though, so no one can be certain."

"I've come here to stop you."

It laughs. "Stop me? Does it look like it can be stopped? Chaos and death will reign Doctor, as it does, I will grow stronger. Thanks to you everything was accelerated. Her mind was very strong, she was holding me back. Then you told her to stop, and every defense stopped instantly, the barriers broke, I took full control. I have free reign now, nothing to stop me!"

He stands there stunned. _Snap out of it_ , he commands himself. It's trying to distract you. At this moment, he's absorbing a lot of rads. At this rate he could wind up regenerating soon. _Come on Donna!_ He thinks. Then he hears the most beautiful sound in the universe and the TARDIS starts materialising around him.

Her pale red eyes widen. "You will not escape me now!" she roars, and lunges at him.

The TARDIS fully materialises around them. The Doctor dives at the console and slams his hand down on a button just as Amanda grabs him and they both disappear from the console room. Then they both appear in the room of mirrors and the Doctor hits the deck. Amanda releases him and screams in terror. She tries turning away but mirrors surround her entirely. She looks up but the entire ceiling is a giant mirror. It's forced into its true form, and a great red snake curls in the center of the room. Amanda collapses.

"This is far from the end Doctor, she made the perfect host because she is the embodiment of chaos and destruction as much as I. If you are not wary, it is not I who will be your doom, but she!"

The Mara gives itself one last look in a mirror and hisses as its own reflection destroys it.

Donna comes racing into the room just as the Mara fades to find the Doctor trying to stand up, breathing hard, and Amanda lying unconscious on the floor. Donna rushes over to help him.

"It's gone. It's gone- gone," he gets out between pants.

"Should we tell everyone?"

The Doctor pulls out the superphone and dials the Governor.

It's quickly answered. "Doctor? News?"

"It's over. It's gone."

"Then I will give the order to send in cleanup crews. Your assistance is highly valued, but I would advise against returning to this planet in the future," the warning in his voice is clear. A lot has been destroyed, and it won't be forgiven any time soon.

"I won't come back again."

"Good," he terminates the call.

Finally the Doctor looks down at Amanda's unconscious form.

"Let's get out of here Donna."

"Yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song excerpt from _My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark_ by Fall Out Boy.

**Author's Note:**

> I was having a horrid creativity block for my other fic, and had an odd dream of me being in an asylum with telepathic abilities and used them to escape like I was playing a puzzle game or something, it was terrifying for some reason. Somehow I connected this with the fact that the psychic paper could receive telepathic messages and this was born. It's probably going to be a bit strange, but I'm enjoying writing it so far.
> 
> There are technically seaside beaches NEAR Orlando, but not actually IN Orlando. I would've based this in Clermont, but Orlando is more well-known and more likely to have something as major as an asylum in it than small town Clermont where I live.
> 
> This work can also be found on Teaspoon.


End file.
